LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

GIF^T  OF" 

MRS.  HEARST 

Class 


COUNT    RUMFORD. 


PLAIN    WORDS    ABOUT    FOOD 


THE 


RUMFORD  KITCHEN  LEAFLETS 


L,       E- 


1899 


BOSTON 

ROCKWELL  AND  CHURCHILL  PRESS 
1899 


Copyright,  1899 
BY  ELLEN   H.  RICHARDS 


TABLE   OF    CONTENTS. 


(Numbers  1  and  6  arc  reprinted  from  the  American  Kitchen  Magazine.    Num- 
bers 2,  12, 16,  18,  19,  20  are  printed  here  for  the  first  time.) 

PAGE 
INTRODUCTION       ..........        9 

GUIDE,  ETC.  ..........       11 

MOTTOES .         .         .16 

Number. 

1.  COUNT  RUMFORD  AND  HIS  WORK  FOR  HUMANITY.      Ellen 

If.  Richards      .         .         . ID 

2.  RUMFORDIANA.     Susannah  Minns         .....  28 

3.  KING  PALATE.     Mary  Hinman  Abel     .....  36 

4.  COMPARATIVE  NUTRITION.     Edward  Atkinson,  LL.D.        .  38 

5.  EXTERNAL    DIGESTION.      Win.    T.    Sedgwick,    Ph.D.,   Pro- 

fessor of  Biology,  Mass.  Institute  of  Technology      .         .       45 

6.  WATER  AND  AIR  AS  FOOD.     Ellen  H.  Richards          .         .       50 

7.  THE  CHEMISTRY  OF  PROTEID  FOODS.      John  J.  Abel,  M.D., 

Professor  of  Pharmacology,  Johns  Hopkins  University     .       58 

8.  THE  DIGESTIBILITY  OF  PROTEID  FOODS.      R.    II.   Chitten- 

den,  Ph.D.,  Professor  of  Physiological  Chemistry  in  Yale 
University  .........       63 

9.  PROTEIDS  IN  OUR  DAILY  FARE.     Mary  Hinman  Abel.        .       68 
10.     THE    CHEMISTRY    OF    FATS    AND    CARBOHYDRATES.      Ira 

Remsen,  Ph.D.,  Professor  of  Chemistry  in  Johns  Hopkins 
University  .........       73 

3 


12594:* 


11.  THE    DIGESTION    AND    NUTRITIVE    VALUE  OF    THE    CAR- 

BOHYDRATES.       W.    11.     Howell,     Ph.D.,    Professor    of 
Physiology  in  Johns  Hopkins  University        .         .  .80 

12.  THE  PLACE  OF  FATS  IN  NUTRITION.     Mary  Hinman  Abel  .       85 

13.  THE  FOOD  OF  SCHOOL  CHILDREN  AND   YOUNG  STUDENTS. 

Ellen  It.  Richards 89 

14.  THE  PROPHYLACTIC   AND   THERAPEUTIC  VALUE  OF   FOOD. 

Ellen  H.  Richards 104 

15.  SOME     SUGGESTIONS     ABOUT     NOURISHMENT     IN     ACUTE 

DISEASE.      Francis   H.    Williams,  M.D.,  Visiting  Phy- 
sician to  the  City  Hospital,  Boston          .         .         .         .115 
GOOD  FOOD  FOR  LITTLE  MONEY.    Ellen  H.  Richards         .     123 
THE    STORY    OF    THE    NEW    ENGLAND    KITCHEN.      Mary 
Hinman  Abel      .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .     131 

18.     PUBLIC  KITCHENS  IN  RELATION  TO  THE  WORKINGMAN  AND 

THE  AVERAGE  HOUSEWIFE.     Mary  Hinman  Abel      .         .     155 

It).     PUBLIC  KITCHENS  IN  RELATION  TO  SCHOOL-LUNCHES  AND 

TO  RESTAURANTS.     Ellen  II .  Richards      .         .         .         .161 

20.     THE  FOOD  OF  INSTITUTIONS.     Ellen  H.  Richards       .         .     166 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGE 

COUNT  RUMFORD Frontispiece 

THE  RUMFORD  KITCHEN,  COLUMBIAN  EXPOSITION,  1893  .  .11 
INTERIOR  RUMFORD  KITCHEN,  COLUMBIAN  EXPOSITION,  1893  .  16 
INTERIOR  RUMFORD  KITCHEN,  COLUMBIAN  EXPOSITION,  1893  .  19 

LUNCH   ROOM    IN   THE  RUMFORD   KITCHEN,  COLUMBIAN  EXPO- 
SITION, 1893 28 

LUNCH  COUNTER  AT  THE  BOSTON  LATIN  SCHOOL  .  .  .89 
THE  NEW  ENGLAND  KITCHEN,  HUDSON  STREET,  NEW  YORK  .  123 
THE  NEW  ENGLAND  KITCHEN,  PLEASANT  STREET,  BOSTON  .  132 
THE  NEW  ENGLAND  KITCHEN,  PLEASANT  STREET,  BOSTON  .  134 
THE  NEW  ENGLAND  KITCHEN,  SALEM  STREET,  BOSTON  .  .  139. 
THE  NEW  ENGLAND  KITCHEN,  485  TREMONT  STREET,  BOSTON,  161 


"  He  who  works  with  all  his  strength  on  the  develop- 
ment of  our  knowledge  of  food  and  nutrition,  and  who 
also  persistently  strives  to  apply  the  results  of  investi- 
gation, is  working  on  a  broad  basis  for  the  development 
of  mankind." —  DONDERS. 


A    GOOD    COOK. 

"To  be  a  good  cook  means  the  knowledge  of  all 
fruits,  herbs,  balms,  and  spices,  and  of  all  that  is 
healing  and  sweet  in  fields  and  groves,  savory  in 
meats ;  it  means  carefulness,  inventiveness,  watchful- 
ness, willingness,  and  readiness  of  appliance  ;  it  means 
the  economy  of  great  grandmothers,  and  the  science 
of  modern  chemists ;  it  means  much  tasting  and  no 
wasting;  it  means  English  thoroughness,  French  art, 
and  Arabian  hospitality  ;  it  means,  in  fine,  that  you 
are  to  be  perfectly  and  always  ladies  (loaf  givers}, 
and  you  are  to  see  that  everybody  has  something  nice 
to  eat."  —  RUSKIN. 


INTRODUCTION. 


THE  constant  demand  for  copies  of  the  leaflets  distributed 
from  that  part  of  the  Massachusetts  Exhibit  called  the  Rumford 
Kitchen  at  the  World's  Columbian  Exposition  in  Chicago,  in 
1893,  has  led  to  this  collection  of  the  literature,  with  illustrations 
of  the  exhibit.' 

It  should  be  remembered  that  the  leaflets  are  published  as  they 
were  written  five  years  ago,  so  that  the  distinguished  scientific 
men,  who  then  gave  generously  of  their  time  and  thought  to 
further  the  plan,  have  not  had  an  opportunity  to  qualify  their 
statements  in  view  of  later  discoveries. 

During  the  World's  Fair,  visitors  at  the  Rumford  Kitchen  were 
often  seen  copying  the  mottoes  which  hung  upon  the  walls. 
Since  that  time  many  calls  for  these  quotations  have  come  from 
all  parts  of  the  country.  To  supply  this  demand  they  were 
printed  in  the  American  Kitchen  Magazine,  Vol.  IV.,  No.  5,  and 
Vol.  V.,  No.  2.  They  are  now  given  this  permanent  form. 

Four  luncheons  have  been  selected  as  typical  of  the  ten 
which  made  up  the  original  Bill  of  Fare.  Numbers  one  and  two 
show  a  higher  food  value  than  the  standard,  while  numbers  three 
and  four  fall  below,  although  the  cost  of  number  two  is  the  least 
and  of  number  four  the  greatest. 

9 


or  THE 
UNIVERSITY 


GUIDE   TO    THE  RUMFORD   KITCHEN. 


An    Exhibit  made  by  the  State  of   Massachusetts  in  connection  with  the  Bureau 
of  Hygiene  and  Sanitation. 

WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  EXPOSITION,  CHICAGO,  1893. 
STATEMENT  BY  GENERAL  FRANCIS  A.  WALKER. 


THE  exhibit  known  as  the  Rumford  Kitchen  is  the  outgrowth  of 
the  work,  in  the  application  of  the  principles  of  chemistry  to  the 
science  of  cooking,  which  has  for  three  years  been  carried  on  as 
an  educational  agency  by  Mrs.  Robert  H.  Richards  and  Mrs.  Dr. 
John  J.  Abel,  with  pecuniary  assistance  from  certain  public- 
spirited  citizens  of  Boston. 

The  Massachusetts  Board  of  World's  Fair  Managers,  recogniz- 
ing the  high  scientific  character  of  those  who  have  initiated  and 
conducted  this  enterprise,  and  believing  that  such  practical  dem- 
onstration of  the  usefulness  of  domestic  science  could  not  fail  to 
be  of  advantage  to  multitudes  of  visitors  to  the  Columbian  Expo- 
sition, have  invited  the  ladies  named  to  open  the  Rumford  Kitchen 
as  a  part  of  the  exhibit  of  Massachusetts  in  connection  with  the 
Bureau  of  Hygiene  and  Sanitation. 

In  order  to  reduce,  in  some  degree,  the  expenses  of  this  exhibit, 
the  food  cooked  in  the  Rumford  Kitchen  will  be  sold  under  a  con- 
cession from  the  administration  of  the  Exposition ;  but  it  should 
be  understood  that  this  is  not  a  money-making  exhibit ;  that 
nothing  is  cooked  for  the  sake  of  being  sold ;  and  that  the  enter- 
prise is  to  be  regarded  as  absolutely  a  scientific  and  educational 
one. 

11 


The  exhibit  consists  of  ten  parts : 

1st.  A  selection  from  the  apparatus  used  in  the  New  England 
Kitchen,  Boston,  for  the  preparation  of  certain  kinds  of  food. 

2d.  Samples  of  the  food  served  at  the  tables  to  illustrate  the 
o  fleets  of  cooking  by  the  methods  used. 

3d.     Samples  of  food  prepared  for  the  very  sick. 

4th.  Menus  giving  the  composition  and  food  value  of  the  dishes 
thus  cooked  and  served. 

5th.  Charts  and  diagrams  illustrating  methods  of  teaching  im- 
portant facts  in  connection  with  food. 

6th.     Models  of  some  of  Count  RumfoixTs  inventions. 

7th.  A  library  containing  Count  Rumford's  complete  works 
and  various  other  publications  of  interest. 

8th.  A  series  of  leaflets  written  expressly  for  this  exhibit  by 
eminent  authorities,  or  selected  from  the  literature  of  the  New 
England  Kitchen. 

9th.     A  kitchen  laboratory  table  with  indispensable  apparatus. 

10th.  Some  forms  of  apparatus  and  some  utensils  especially 
desirable  for  home  use. 

THE   RUMFORD   KITCHEN. 

The  purpose  of  the  exhibit  in  the  Rumford  Kitchen  is  two-fold : 
'Vst,  to  commemorate  the  services  to  the  cause  of  domestic  sci- 
\.oe  rendered  by  Count  Rumford  one  hundred  years  ago,  ser- 
vices which  to-day  stand  unrivalled  in  spite  of  the  progress  of 
other  deparlments  during  this  century;  second,  to  serve  as  an 
incentive  to  further  work  in  the  same  direction,  as  he  expressed 
it,  "  to  provoke  men  to  investigation,"  "  to  cause  doubt,  that  first 
step  toward  knowledge." 

The  Rumford  Kitchen,  then,  stands  for  the  application  of  sci- 
ence to  the  preparation  of  food.  A  careful  study  of  all  the 
published  essays  of  Count  Rumford  will  show  that  in  so  far  as 
the  question  is  that  of  method  of  preparation  and  application  of 
heat  we  have  advanced  very  little  in  this  one  hundred  years;  but 
that  the  science  which  was  so  carefully  worked  out  at  that  time 

12 


has  been  lost  sight  of  to  a  great  extent,  and  that  the  common 
practice  is  now  quite  as  bad  as  when  Count  Rumford  so  strongly 
deprecated  it.  We  can  to-day  only  echo  his  statements  —  "  The 
common  kitchen  range  seems  to  have  been  calculated  for  the 
express  purpose  of  devouring  fuel."  "It  is  a  common  habit  to 
boil  a  dish  of  tea  with  fuel  sufficient  to  cook  a  dinner  for  fifty 
men." 

We  cannot  do  better  than  follow  the  example  of  this  remarkable 
man  and  patient  experimenter  in  the  study  of  those  problems 
which  affect  the  daily  life  of  all  people  alike ;  and  certainly  if  a 
man  held  in  so  much  honor  and  respect  by  the  whole  civilized 
world,  who  had  a  high  position  at  court,  and  who  busied  himself 
with  the  most  abstruse  theories  of  the  science  of  the  time,  yet 
found  his  greatest  joy  in  planning  kitchen  utensils,  surely  it  is 
not  beneath  the  dignity  of  any  modern  investigator  to  follow  in 
his  footsteps.  "  A  real  improvement  in  the  art  of  cookery,  which 
unites  the  advantage  of  economy  with  wholesomeness  and  an 
increased  enjoyment  in  eating,  appears  to  me  very  interesting." 

The  century  which  has  passed  has  indeed  added  some  things 
to  our  knowledge  of  food.  The  increase  in  facility  of  transpor- 
tation, and  in  means  of  preservation,  has  increased  many  times 
the  number  of  food  materials  available.  Chemical  analysis  has 
given  us  the  ultimate  composition  of  most  of  these  food  mate- 
rials, and  the  agricultural  experiment  stations  have,  as  a  side  • 
issue,  determined  in  a  few  cases  the  amount  of  these  food  mate- 
rials which  are  daily  required  by  the  human  animal,  so  that  we 
have  already  a  basis  upon  which  to  build ;  but  there  still  remains 
the  most  important  branch  of  the  subject,  the  one  to  which  Count 
Rumford  gave  his  attention,  namely,  the  relation  of  the  propor- 
tion of  food  materials  and  their  combination  to  the  best  and  most 
economical  nutrition  of  men.  In  fact  we  must  carry  on  the  study 
of  the  "  science  of  nutrition"  which  Count  Rumford  so  well  be- 
gan. 

It  is,  then,  not  as  an  exponent  of  any  theory,  not  as  the  advo- 
cate of  any  one  process,  not  as  illustrating  a  universal  panacea 

13 


for  all  of  the  ills  of  mankind,  not  as  ottering  a  completed  plan  to 
be  exactly  followed,  that  the  Rumford  Kitchen  has  been  fitted  up, 
but  rather  to  show  that  certain  knowledge  is  within  our  reach, 
and  that  certain  improvements  are  possible  in  the  line  of  our 
daily  life.  It  is  hoped  to  arouse  the  intelligent,  thinking  citizen 
to  the  need  and  to  the  possibility  of  improvement  in  these 
directions. 


14 


FOODS  PREPARED  AND  SOLD  AT  THE  HUM.FORD   KITCHEN,   WITH 
THEIR  FOOD  VALUES. 

FOUR  STANDARD  LUNCHEONS. 


FOOD  VALUE  ix  GRAMS. 

oS 

1 

Proteid. 

Fat. 

Carbohy- 
drates . 

Volt's    Standard.     One-quarter   of   One 
Day's  Ration 

24.5 
31.2 

14. 
31.2 

125. 
114. 

742. 

882. 

At  water's     Standard.      One-quarter     of 
One  Day's  Ration      

Ounces. 

Grams. 

r  Baked  Beans  .... 
i  Brown  Bread  .... 
No.  1.  1  1  Roll    

8.4 
4.2 
2.0 
0.7 
5.3 

238.1 
119.1 
56.7 
19.8 
150.2 

1 
>>26.3 

j 

35.6 

131.4 

979.3 

j  Butter 

I  Apple  Sauce    .... 

f  Pea  Soup  
^          j  Rolls  or  Bread  .  .  . 
'  1  Butter  

9.8 
4.Q 
0.7 
4.0 

277.8 
113.4 
19.8 
113.4 

i 

128.6 

35.4 

126.1 

935.3 

1  Apple  Cake    

f  Beef  Broth 

94 
4.0 
0.7 
4.0 

266.5 
113.4 
19.8 
113.4 

1 
>26.3 

20.4 

128.4 

817.5 

•yr     o    J  Rolls  or  Bread    .  . 
No'  3-  j  Butter 

1  Gingerbread  

fEscalloped  Fish.. 
v      .    J  Rolls  or  Bread  .  .  . 
No>  4"  •]  Butter  

4.0 
4.0 
0.7 
8.0 

113.4 
113  4 
19.8 

226.8 

!>26.8 

24.0 

109.8 

777.2 

1  Baked  Apples   .  .  . 

Cost  of  Raw  Materials  of  Each  of  Four  Standard  Luncheons,  at 

Average  Market  Prices. 

No.  1  .         .         .         4.39  cents.          No.  3  .         .         .         4.32  cents. 
No.  2*.         .         .         3.49     "  No.  4  .         .         .         5.34      " 

15 


RUMFORD   KITCHEN  MOTTOES. 


Wherefore  do  ye  spend  money  for  that  which  is  not  bread,  and 
your  labor  for  that  which  satisfieth  not?  —  Isaiah,  Iv.  2. 

Preserve  and  treat  food  as  you  would  your  body,  remembering 
that  in  time  food  will  be  your  body.  —  B.  W.  Richardson. 

The  palate  is  the  janitor,  and  unless  he  be  conciliated,  the  most 
nutritious  food  will  find  no  welcome. 

There  are  three  companions  with  whom  you  should  keep  on 
good  terms  —  your  wife,  your  stomach,  and  your  conscience. 

Myriads  of  our  fellow-creatures  have  perished  because  those 
around  them  did  not  know  how  to  feed  them.  —  Fothergill. 

Prayer  and  provender  delays  no  man's  journey.  —  Old  Proverb. 
The  fate  of  nations  depends  on  how  they  are  fed. 

Plain  food  is  quite  good  enough  for  me.  —  Oliver  Wendell 
Holmes. 

A  man  is  what  he  eats. 

It  is  an  irritating,  nay  more,  a  deeply  saddening  problem  for  a 
wise  dyspeptic  to  ponder,  the  superabundance  in  this  little  world 
of  ours  of  things  cookable,  and  the  extreme  rarity  of  cooks.  — 
Maarten  Maartens. 

There  is  no  pain  like  the  pain  of  a  new  idea.  —  Bagehot. 

The  time  indeed  is  at  hand  when  systematic  lectures  on  food 
will  be  part  of  medical  education,  when  the  value  of  feeding  in 
disease  is  admitted  to  be  as  important  as  the  administration  of 
medicines.  —  Fothergill. 

16 


The  scientific  aspect  of  food  must  be  united  in  the  bonds  of  holy 
matrimony  with  a  practical  knowledge  of  the  cook's  art,  before  a 
man  can  discourse  learnedly  of  food.  — Fothergill. 

It  is  in  vain  to  suppose  that  the  poor  should  adopt  better  methods 
of  choosing  and  preparing  their  food  till  they  are  furnished  with 
better  implements  and  utensils  for  cooking.  —  Rumford. 

Pain  is  the  prayer  of  a  nerve  for  healthy  blood.  —  Romberg. 

Courage,  cheerfulness,  and  a  desire  to  work  depends  mostly  on 
good  nutrition.  —  Moleschott. 

The  stomach  is  a  good  servant;  let  his  hours  of  repose  be  un- 
broken . 

Keep  as  near  as  ever  you  can  to  the  first  sources  of  supply  — 
fruits  and  vegetables.  —  B.  W.  Richardson. 

Nothing  surely  is  so  disgraceful  to  society  and  individuals  as 
unmeaning  wastefulness.  —  Rumford. 

An  hour  of  exercise  to  a  pound  of  food.  — Felix  Oswald. 

The  seat  of  courage  is  the  stomach.  —  German  Proverb. 

A  good  heart  will  have  a  care  of  his  meat  and  drink.  —  Eccle- 
siasticus. 

What  pleases  the  palate,  nourishes. 

Eat  when  I  have  stomach,  and  wait  for  no  man's  leisure .  — 
Shakespeare,  Much  Ado,  i.  3. 

A  man  too  busy  to  take  care  of  his  health  is  like  a  mechanic  too 
busy  to  take  care  of  his  tools. 

Better  is  a  dinner  of  herbs  where  love  is,  than  a  stalled  ox  and 
hatred  therewith.  —  Proverbs. 

Hunger  is  the  best  sauce. 

The  proof  of  the  pudding  is  in  the  eating.  —  Old  Proverb. 
The  spirit  of  each  dish,  and  zest  of  all, 
Is  what  ingenious  cooks  the  relish  call. 

There  is  nothing  better  for  a  man  than  that  he  should  eat  and 
drink.  —  Ecclesiastes,  ii.  24. 

17 


Many  sick  persons  pass  into  a  critical  stage  from  which  they 
never  rally,  because  they  are  insufficiently  fed.  — King  Chambers. 

Haste  in  the  preparation  is  the  ruin  of  stews.  Curiosity,  too,  is 
a  drawback.  The  lid  of  the  stewpan  should  never  be  lifted  until 
it  has  to  be  taken  off. 

Ost  oder  West  daheim  schmeckts  am  best.  —  German  Proverb. 

Every  man  has  lain  on  his  own  trencher.  —  Old  English 
Proverb. 

Now  good  digestion  wait  on  appetite,  and  health  on  both.  — 
Shakespeare,  Macbeth,  Hi.  4. 

After  breakfast  walk  a  mile, 
After  dinner  sleep  awhile. 

As  hungry  as  the  sea,  and  can  digest  as  much.  —  Shakespeare, 
Twelfth  Night,  ii.  4. 

If  I  bring  thee  not  something  to  eat,  I  will  give  thee  leave  to 
die.  —  Shakespeare,  As  You  Like  It,  ii.  6. 

Then  to  breakfast,  with  what  appetite  you  have.  —  Shake- 
speare, Henry  VIII.,  Hi.  2. 

The  six  o'clock  dinner  marks  the  progress  of  civilization  around 
the  world.  So  do  dyspepsia  and  gout. 

Where  the  dinner  is  ill  got  there  is  poverty,  or  there  is  indo- 
lence, or  there  is  ignorance.  —  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson. 
Joy  and  temperance  and  repose 
Slam  the  door  on  the  doctor's  nose. 

Our  stomachs  will  make  what's  homely,  savory.  —  Shake- 
speare, Cymbeline,  Hi.  6. 

In  building  up  an  army,  begin  at  the  stomach.  —  Bismarck. 


18 


THE   RUMFORD    KITCHEN    LEAFLETS. 

No.  1. 


COUNT    RUMFORD,    AND   HIS    WORK    FOR   HUMANITY. 
BY  ELLEN  H.  RICHARDS. 

Benjamin  Thompson,  "  the  benefactor  of  humanity,"  was  born  March  26,  1753, 
in  what  is  now  the  town  of  Woburn,  Mass.,  within  twelve  miles  of  the  birthplace 
of  Benjamin  Franklin,  "the  patriotic  statesman."  As  a  youth  he  was  dependent 
upon  his  own  exertions,  like  so  many  New  Englanders  of  that  century.  At  an 
early  age  he  delighted  in  experiment  and  investigation,  and  in  the  use  of  mechani- 
cal tools.  He  was  also  skilful  with  the  pencil.  When,  in  1781,  he  began  the  study 
of  medicine  with  Dr.  Hay,  of  Woburn,  he  was  busy  in  inventing  an  electrical 
machine. 

Owing  to  certain  political  complications  he  was  banished  from  the  country  on 
charge  of  being  a  Tory,  a  charge  which  he  stoutly  denied.  Nevertheless  he  ac- 
cepted a  military  position  with  the  British  forces,  and  held  himself  always  to  be 
a  British  subject. 

In  1784,  with  the  permission  of  the  King  of  England,  he  entered  the  service  of 
the  Elector  of  Bavaria.  In  1802  he  took  up  his  residence  in  Franco,  where  he  died 
in  1814. 

The  complete  works  of  Count  Rumford  were  published  in  four  volumes,  with  his 
life  in  a  fifth  volume  in  1875,  by  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences, 
Boston. 

"  HUNGER  and  cold  are  the  two  great  foes  of  our  race,  and  to 
meet  them  all  our  skill  and  art  are  most  resolutely  directed  in 
palaces  and  in  hovels." 

This  sentence  gives  the  keynote  of  Cuvier's  eulogy  pronounced 
upon  Count  Rumford  before  the  French  Institute  less  than  five 
months  after  his  death.  He  reminds  his  audience  that  the  sci- 
ences had  reached  a  point  where  the  immense  advantages  which 
their  applied  uses  daily  insured  to  society  had  just  begun  to  ex- 
cite the  amazement  of  all  thoughtful  persons. 

19 


"  Le  Moniteur"  of  Aug.  25,  1814,  says :  "  This  celebrated  man 
has  consecrated  his  life  to  the  study  of  the  sciences  and  always  in 
the  service  of  humanity." 

Delessert,  in  the  address  over  his  grave,  says:  "  In  England, 
in  France,  in  Germany,  in  all  parts  of  the  Continent,  the  people 
are  enjoying  the  blessings  of  his  discoveries ;  and  from  the  hum- 
ble dwellings  of  the  poor  even  to  the  palaces  of  sovereigns  all 
will  remember  that  his  sole  aim  was  to  be  always  useful  to  his 
fellow-men.'" 

The  work  of  Count  Rumford  was  carried  on  in  three  nearly 
distinct  periods  of  his  life  and  was  directly  influenced  by  the 
circumstances  in  which  he  found  himself  placed ;  indeed,  he  was 
in  a  great  measure  the  puppet  of  fate,  and  "so  susceptible  to 
impressions  that  he  could  not  fix  his  attention  upon  any  uniform 
line  of  conduct,"  although  "  he  had  a  genius  which  never  suffered 
him  to  stop  short  of  the  object  of  his  pursuit.11  "  His  ambition 
was  to  rise  in  the  estimation  of  mankind  by  his  usefulness,  and 
to  call  forth  that  applause  which  springs  from  public  love  ;  "  hence, 
if  his  friend  Colonel  Baldwin  was  right  in  the  foregoing  estimate 
of  his  character,  it  was  very  natural  that  he  should  throw  himself 
into  the  task  of  securing  the  power  of  the  Elector  of  Bavaria, 
then  hanging  in  the  balance,  by  binding  his  people  to  him  as  a 
ruler,  under  whom  they  had  become  well  fed  and  busily  em- 
ployed, and  therefore  so  contented  that  they  did  not  perceive  that 
they  were  under  the  most  despotic  control.  The  world  has  never 
seen  a  better  example  of  the  improvement  of  the  condition  of  a 
people  without  any  volition  of  their  own.  So  long  as  the  Elector 
was  secure  on  his  throne,  so  long  did  the  glamour  of  success  last, 
but  the  spirit  of  the  French  Revolution  was  in  the  air,  and  when 
the  power  of  the  ruler  waned  then  the  influence  of  the  scientific 
adviser  was  weakened,  and  he  perforce  turned  to  other  fields. 

Col.  Benjamin  Thompson,  soldier,  philosopher,  statesman,  as 
Gibbon  is  said  to  have  called  him,  entered  the  service  of  Charles 
Theodore,  Elector  of  Bavaria,  in  the  spring  of  1784,  the  King  of 
England  having  graciously  given  his  permission  and  added  the 

20 


dignity  of  knighthood.  For  fourteen  years  he  gave  the  treasures 
of  his  inventive  and  truly  great  mind  to  his  confidential  friend  and 
ardently  grateful  patron  —  a  prince  whose  aims  were  high,  and 
whose  interest  in  the  welfare  of  his  subjects  was  sincere  and  who 
desired  to  remove  abuses  and  to  introduce  economical  improve- 
ments. 

It  speaks  well  for  the  moral  effect  of  scientific  pursuits  that 
never  once  have  we  the  record  of  an  abuse  of  the  absolute  power, 
military  and  civil,  which  was  put  into  Rumford's  hands ;  the  de- 
light of  seeing  order  come  out  of  disorder  and  of  accomplishing 
results  by  magic,  as  it  were,  seems  to  have  satisfied  the  Count 
through  this  period,  probably  the  happiest  of  his  life. 

His  first  endeavor  was  *'  to  unite  the  interest  of  the  soldier  with 
the  interest  of  civil  society  and  to  render  the  military  force,  even 
in  time  of  peace,  subservient  to  the  public  good."  Therefore  he 
made  the  situation  of  the  men  a  pleasant  one,  with  good  clothes, 
light  duties,  but  withal  subject  to  a  life  of  rigid  discipline  and  of 
steady  self -improvement,  by  means  of  schools  and  of  habits  of 
industry.  They  were  employed  on  public  works,  and  military 
gardens  were  introduced,  a  plot  of  three  hundred  and  sixty-five 
square  feet  being  put  in  charge  of  each  man  as  his  own  while  he 
remained  in  garrison,  only  he  was  to  keep  it  in  good  condition. 
Thus  the  soldier  left  the  service  a  more  useful  citizen  than  when 
he  entered  it. 

This  military  force  was  then  used  to  keep  the  country  free  from 
beggars,  at  that  time  an  intolerable  nuisance,  by  arresting  all 
vagrants  and  taking  them  to  places  where  they  were  obliged  to 
work,  but  where  they  received  pay  for  it  in  proportion  to  the 
quality  of  it  and  to  their  industry.  As  in  the  case  of  the  soldiers, 
every  effort  was  made  to  ensure  good  ventilation  for  the  build- 
ings, with  clean  surroundings,  and  to  make  the  place  and  the 
work  attractive  and  easy,  so  that  the  poor  wretches  would  know 
what  it  meant  to  be  clean  and  warm  and  physically  comfortable. 
A  part  of  their  occupation  was  to  prepare  for  themselves  a  good 
dinner,  which  was  to  be  given  gratis  each  day,  and  this  led  Count 

21 


Rumford  to  investigate  the  means  of  .supplying  cheap  and  nutri- 
tious food  at  the  least  cost  to  the  State. 

Among  the  results  of  these  studies  were  the  famous  soups  made 
of  bread,  peas,  and  barley,  sometimes  with  the  addition  of  pota- 
toes, which  are  still  known  in  Germany  by  Rumford's  name. 
The  cost  of  these  was  one  penny  a  person  a  day  for  the  portion 
of  one  and  one-half  pounds.  To  this  was  added  seven  ounces  of 
rye  bread,  which  was  usually  carried  home  for  supper.  Careful 
calculation  indicates  that  the  food  value  was  as  follows  : 


RUMFORD  SOUPS. 

FOOD  VALUE  IN  GRAMS, 

Per  Pint  or  Pound. 

Calories." 

Proteid. 

Fat. 

Carbo- 
hydrates. 

f  Peas        ) 

No.  1. 

{Barley    ( 

19.1 

2.5 

86.1 

454.5 

(  Bread      .  ) 

No.  2. 

|  A  portion  of  Peas  and  Barley  ) 
(      replaced  by  Potatoes    .   .  .   \ 

12.5 

1.4 

66.7 

337.7 

which,  though  it  seems  small,  was  enough  to  keep  hunger  from 
the  door,  and  to  afford  a  subsistence  to  the  not  very  ambitious 
vagrants. 

The  economy  of  service  and  fuel  made  possible  by  the  use  of 
the  best  appliances  is  seen  in  the  statement  that  dinner  for  one 
thousand  persons  was  prepared  by  three  cook-maids  at  a  cost  of 
four  pence  half-penny  for  fuel.  A  cord  of  soft  wood  cost  then 
about  seven  shillings  and  hard  wood  twice  that. 

In  all  these  plans  no  account  was  taken  of  the  value  of  land  or 
buildings,  or  the  rent  of  the  same,  only  the  maintenance,  and  in 
this  respect  similar  work  in  a  free  country  must  always  differ 
from  that  under  a  military  and  despotic  government,  so  that  it  is 
not  true  here  that  "  the  poor  might  be  fed  from  a  public  kitchen 
for  less  than  half  what  it  would  cost  them  to  feed  themselves." 

22 


Success  in  this  first  venture  seems  to  have  stimulated  the  Count 
to  many  of  the  researches  which  he  undertook  with  such  eager- 
ness during  these  years.  The  fact  that  he  had  the  resources  of 
the  State  at  his  command,  both  men  and  money,  and,  moreover, 
persons  under  control  on  whom  to  try  the  effect  of  his  discoveries, 
lent  wings  to  his  invention,  so  that  results  for  which  many  men 
might  have  waited  a  lifetime  in  vain  came  to  him  within  the 
year. 

During  this  period,  the  Count  having  proved  that  seven-eighths 
of  the  fuel  commonly  used  might  be  saved,  designed  several 
kitchens  for  public  institutions,  notably  that  for  the  hospital  at 
Verona,  the  model  of  which,  one-fourth  size,  was  shown  in  the 
Rumford  Kitchen  in  Chicago  and  is  now  at  485  Tremont  street, 
Boston. 

In  1795  a  great  effort  was  made  to  introduce  potatoes,  which 
seemed  to  Count  Rumford  an  excellent  food.  This  was  one  of 
the  few  points  in  which  his  science  failed,  since  he  seems  to  have 
considered  the  whole  weight  of  the  potato  as  nutritious.  How- 
ever, it  was  the  Count  who  declared  that  he  believed  that  water 
must  become  nutritious  in  the  process  of  cooking  soups. 

The  Count  tried  to  introduce  Indian  corn  into  England,  and 
with  his  usual  love  of  order  and  minutiee  directed  the  manner  of 
eating  it  so  as  to  obtain  the  greatest  pleasure  from  it.  This 
caused  so  much  amusement  in  America  that  it  is  to  many  per- 
sons to-day  the  one  thing  which  the  name  of  Count  Rumford 
recalls. 

Many  devices  for  kitchen  fireplaces  and  kitchen  utensils  are 
described  in  detail  in  his  essays,  and  all  the  drawings  are  made 
with  such  care  that  the  various  articles  can  be  reproduced  with 
perfect  accuracy,  and  all  the  directions  for  cooking  can  be  fol- 
lowed in  detail.  It  is  an  illustration  of  the  Count's  secret  of  suc- 
cess in  all  that  he  undertook ;  namely,  minute  attention  to  detail. 
Nothing  was  too  small  for  him  to  note,  and  the  housewife  of 
to-day  may  well  learn  a  lesson  from  the  courtier,  with  an  army  at 
his  beck  and  the  treasure  of  a  kingdom  in  his  hand,  spending  days 

23 


in  determining  the  best  temperature  for  developing  flavor  in  beef, 
and  in  experiments  of  the  most  careful  kind  of  the  quantity  and 
cost  of  fuel  necessary  for  making  tea  for  two  persons  and  com- 
puting the  waste  in  the  ordinary  methods.  He  devised  portable 
lamps  and  gave  much  information  about  harmonies  and  contrasts 
in  colors  for  helping  ladies  about  their  ribbons  and  apparel.  The 
invention  of  the  closed  stove  and  the  use  of  coal  as  fuel  we  owe 
to  him,  as  well  as  the  double-boiler  to  prevent  burning  of  food 
during  slow  cooking  over  the  fire.  It  is  as  true  to-day  as  ever 
that  "nothing  is  so  ill-judged  as  most  of  the  attempts  that  are 
so  frequently  made  by  the  ignorant  to  force  the  same  fire  to  per- 
form different  services  at  the  same  time,"  also  "  more  fuel  is  fre- 
quently consumed  in  a  kitchen  range  to  boil  a  tea-kettle  than  with 
proper  management  would  be  sufficient  to  cook  a  dinner  for  fifty 
men." 

Among  Rumford's  contributions  to  the  luxuries  of  living  is  the 
essay  on  the  excellent  qualities  of  coffee  and  the  best  means  of 
making  it,  a  method  which  has  not  been  improved  in  the  one  hun- 
dred years  which  have  since  elapsed. 

For  all  these  benefits  it  would  seem  fitting  that  American  house- 
wives should  celebrate  in  1914  the  one-hundredth  anniversary  of 
the  Count's  death  by  some  decided  advance  in  the  art  of  right 
living  and  the  "  science  of  nutrition,"  Rumford's  own  term  for  the 
study  of  food. 

And  all  this  he  did  from  the  abstract  love  of  "knowing  how," 
for  Count  Rumford  was  himself  most  abstemious.  He  drank 
nothing  but  water.  He  indulged  himself  in  no  superfluity,  not 
even  in  a  step  or  a  word,  and  it  was  in  the  strictest  sense  that  he 
used  the  term.  His  wants,  his  pleasures,  and  his  toils  were  as 
exactly  arranged  as  were  his  experiments.  This  was,  without 
doubt,  a  means  of  helping  him  to  devote  all  his  energies  most 
directly  to  good  works.  "  By  the  happy  choice  of  the  subject 
of  his  labors  he  has  known  how  to  secure  to  himself  alike  the 
esteem  of  the  wise  and  the  remembrance  of  the  unfortunate.1' 


24 


He  called  order  the  necessary  auxiliary  of  genius,  almost  a  sub- 
ordinate deity  for  the  government  of  this  lower  world. 

The  practical  results  of  Count  Rumford's  experiments  and  the 
questions  they  aroused  led  to  deeper  studies  as  to  the  causes  of 
various  phenomena,  and  as  the  need  for  immediate  application 
lessened,  his  attention  was  turned  more  and  more  to  the  scientific 
aspect,  until  in  the  second  period,  while  his  writings  still  showed 
the  practical  bent,  they  became  more  philosophical,  and,  biased 
by  the  theories  of  the  time,  they  undoubtedly  failed  of  so  complete 
and  rapid  acceptance  as  his  earlier  work. 

Deprived  of  the  incentive  of  immediate  application  of  his  results, 
Count  Rumford  seems  to  have  lost  in  a  measure  the  zest  which 
obstacles  to  overcome  always  gave  him,  and  he  turned  his  atten- 
tion to  securing  the  continuance  of  his  most  successful  work  in 
all  the  years  to  come.  To  this  end  he  devised,  inaugurated,  and 
endowed  institutions  in  England  and  America,  which  remain 
among  the  most  useful  to  mankind,  although  no  one  of  them  has 
yet  fulfilled  all  that  its  founder  foresaw  as  possible. 

On  Feb.  15,  1797,  Rumford  wrote  to  President  Willard,  of 
Harvard  College,  and  to  Mr.  Pearson,  the  secretary  of  the  Ameri- 
can Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  Boston,  authorizing  the  trans- 
fer of  stock  to  the  value  of  $5,000  to  the  academy,  adding,  "  It  has 
ever  been  my  most  ardent  wish  to  be  of  some  use  to  mankind,  to 
be  able  to  natter  myself,  when  I  am  going  out  of  the  world,  that 
I  have  lived  to  some  useful  purpose."  In  a  letter  dated  Woburn, 
March  26,  1798,  on  the  anniversary  of  Benjamin  Thompson's 
birth,  and  one  hundred  years  ago,  Mr.  Baldwin  writes:  "The 
business  of  this  transfer  is  finally  completed  and  the  academy  is 
in  full  possession  of  the  most  liberal  and  important  endowment 
of  any  yet  received." 

The  year  1798  was  a  most  important  one  in  Count  Rumford's 
life.  The  Elector  of  Bavaria  offered  him  the  position  of  Minister 
at  the  English  court,  which,  being  still  a  British  subject,  he  was 
not  allowed  to  fill.  Since  the  stress  and  turmoil  of  war  and  im- 
pending disaster  rendered  Munich  a  less  desirable  place  of  resi- 

25 


dence  than  hitherto,  the  Count  bought  a  villa  near  London  and 
busied  himself  for  a  year  in  developing  the  plans  for  the  Royal 
Institution,  the  first  meeting  of  the  managers  taking  place  March 
9,  1799,  and  the  first  sitting  March  11,  1800.  This  institution, 
founded  for  the  investigation  and  diffusion  of  the  knowledge  of 
the  application  of  science  to  the  common  purposes  of  life,  has 
given  to  the  world  a  Sir  Humphrey  Davy,  selected  by  Rumford 
himself,  a  Michael  Faraday  and  has  exercised  a  profound  influ- 
ence in  the  development  of  science  through  all  these  one  hundred 
years. 

The  state  of  the  kingdom  of  Bavaria  remaining  unfavorable  to 
philosophic  study,  the  king  allowed  Rumford  an  annual  pension 
of  about  $60,000,  and  as  the  king  was  then  a  vassal  of  Bonaparte 
it  is  supposed  that  this  was  paid  only  on  condition  that  he  resided 
in  France,  for  during  these  years  of  1798  and  1799  there  was  much 
correspondence  with  reference  to  the  purchase  of  an  estate  in 
America,  and  the  Government  of  the  United  States  offered  to  Count 
Rumford,  in  September,  1799,  the  superintendence  of  the  Military 
Academy,  then  just  established,  and  the  post  of  Inspector-General 
of  the  Artillery  of  the  United  States.  He  felt  obliged  to  decline 
on  account  of  "  engagements  which  great  obligations  have  ren- 
dered sacred  and  inviolable." 

Therefore,  after  a  year's  residence  in  the  Royal  Institution, 
while  it  was  being  perfected,  the  Count  made  his  home  in  France. 

That  he  did  not  forget  his  native  country  is  proved  by  the  fact 
that  he  left  an  annuity  of  $1,000  and  the  reversion  of  his  estate  to 
Harvard  College  "  for  the  purpose  of  founding  a  new  institution 
and  professorship,  in  order  to  teach  by  regular  courses  of  academ- 
ical and  public  lectures,  accompanied  with  proper  experiments, 
the  utility  of  the  physical  and  mathematical  sciences  for  the  im- 
provement of  the  useful  arts  and  for  the  extension  of  the  industry, 
prosperity,  happiness,  and  well-being  of  society.1'  To  the  first 
Rumford  professor,  Dr.  Jacob  Bigelow,  we  probably  owe  the  in- 
troduction of  the  word  "  technology,"  as  descriptive  of  the  new 
education  or  the  application  of  principles  first  learned  from  experi- 

26 


ment  and  founded  upon  theory,  Fn^HfHflBtioh  from  technical  or 
trade  education,  which  deals  only  with  the  narrow  field  of  applica- 
tion ;  and  we  may  consider  Benjamin  Thompson,  Count  Rumford, 
together  with  Benjamin  Franklin,  his  contemporary,  as  the 
founders  of  the  modern  school  of  engineering  and  applied  science, 
which  has  made  possible  the  remarkable  progress  of  the  century 
just  closing. 


27 


THE    RTJMFORD    KITCHEN    LEAFLETS, 

No.  2. 


RUMFORDIANA. 

BY  Miss  S.  MINNS. 

EVERY  one  who  considers  the  subject  of  household  comfort  and 
economy  must  realize  that  we  all  owe  a  debt  of  gratitude  to  Count 
Rumford  for  his  wise  study  of  the  problems  of  daily  life.  We 
do  not  know  much  more  than  he  did  in  those  far-back  clays.  The 
principles  he  then  laid  down  we  still  follow.  In  the  practical  ap- 
plication of  those  principles  to  every-day  life,  is  where  our  great 
advance  has  been  made.  We  have  improved  upon  his  inventions, 
but  the  principles  remain  the  same. 

For  instance,  he  invented  the  cooking  stove,  steam  cooking, 
double-bottomed  saucepans,  double  boilers,  while  his  ingenuity 
seemed  to  have  no  limit. 

In  his  work  for  the  poor  of  Munich  we  see  the  source  whence 
we  drew  the  foundation  of  our  Associated  Charities,  a  work  of 
great  usefulness,  though  our  poor  never  seem  to  be  so  ignorant 
nor  so  miserable  as  those  described  in  his  account  of  the  poor  of 
Bavaria. 

He  was  eminently  fitted  for  the  work  he  undertook  by  his  clear 
judgment,  his  practical  ability,  his  chemical  and  scientific  knowl- 
edge, and  by  his  great  humanity.  Yet  he  was  much  opposed  and 
was  even  accused  of  cruelty.  This  was  when  he  attempted  to 
introduce  among  the  poor  the  use  of  potatoes  and  Indian  corn. 
It  was  said  he  wished  to  poison  the  people.  Now  the  use  of 
potatoes  is  world  wide,  and  Indian  corn,  so  scorned,  is  proposed 

28 


as  our  national  emblem.  His  chapters  on  the  various  ways  of 
cooking  it  —  his  "hasty-pudding,11  his  boiled  Indian  pudding, 
called  by  him  "  bag11  pudding — are  too  long  to  be  quoted,  but 
ought  to  be  reprinted  for  cooking  recipes.  Fried  potatoes  and 
potato  "  sallet "  or  salad  seem  to  have  originated  with  him,  and 
we  have  many  recipes  of  simple  and  savory  dishes,  which  were 
either  original  or  collected  from  his  observations  gathered  in 
travel.  Pea  soup  and  its  great  nutritive  power  were  well  known 
to  him  and  several  pages  in  his  works  are  devoted  to  its  merits. 
The  Rumford  Kitchen  has  chosen  wisely  its  patron  saint. 


The  few  extracts  from  Count  Rumford's  Essays  which  are 
given  here  might  be  more  than  doubled.  They  are  as  practical 
and  appropriate  as  if  they  had  been  written  to-day  instead  of  a 
century  ago. 

"  The  use  of  science  is  to  explain  the  operations  which  take 
place  in  the  practice  of  the  arts,  .and  to  -discover  the  means  of 
improving  them  ;  and  there  is  no  process,  however  simple  it  may 
appear  to  be,  that  does  not  afford  an  ample  field  for  curious  and 
interesting  investigation.'1 

"  Causing  anything  to  boil  violently  in  any  culinary  process  is 
very  ill-judged ;  for  it  not  only  does  not  expedite,  even  in  the 
smallest  degree,  the  process  of  cooking,  but  it  occasions  a  most 
enormous  waste  of  fuel ;  and,  by  driving  away  with  the  steam 
many  of  the  more  volatile  and  savory  particles  of  the  ingredients, 
renders  the  victuals  less  good  and  less  palatable.  To  those  who 
are  acquainted  with  the  experimental  philosophy  of  heat,  and 
who  know  that  water  once  brought  to  be  boiling  hot,  however 
gently  it  may  boil  in  fact,  cannot  be  made  any  hotter,  however  large 
and  intense  the  fire  under  it  may  be  made,  and  who  know  that  it 
is  by  the  heat  —  that  is  to  say,  the  degree  or  intensity  of  it,  and 
the  time  of  its  being  continued,  and  not  by  the  bubbling  up  or 
boiling  (as  it  is  called)  of  the  water  —  that  culinary  operations  are 

29 


performed;  this  will  be  evident;  and  those  who  know  that  more 
than  five  times  as  much  heat  is  required  to  send  off  in  steam  any 
given  quantity  of  water  already  boiling  hot  as  would  be  necessary 
to  heat  the  same  quantity  of  ice-cold  water  to  the  boiling  point, 
will  see  the  enormous  waste  of  heat,  and  consequently  of  fuel, 
which,  in  all  cases,  must  result  from  violent  boiling  in  culinary 
processes.1' 

"  When  good  reasons  can  be  assigned  for  the  advantages  which 
result  from  any  common  practice,  this  not  only  tends  to  satisfy 
the  mind,  and  make  people  careful,  cheerful,  and  attentive  in  the 
prosecution  of  their  business,  but  it  has  also  a  very  salutary  influ- 
ence, by  preventing  those  perpetual  variations  and  idle  attempts 
at  improvement,  undirected  by  science,  which  are  the  consequence 
of  the  inconstancy,  curiosity,  and  restlessness  of  man/' 

"  .  .  .  We  may,  I  think,  venture  to  hope  that  those  preju- 
dices which  prevent  the  introduction  of  these  improvements  will 
in  time  be  removed." 

"It  is  not  obstinacy,  it  is  that  apathy  which  follows  a  total  cor- 
ruption of  taste  and  morals,  that  is  an  incurable  evil ;  for  that, 
alas !  there  is  no  remedy  but  calamity  and  extermination." 

"  Experience,  unassisted  by  science,  may  lead,  and  frequently 
does  lead,  to  useful  improvements ;  but  the  progress  of  such  im- 
provement is  not  only  slow,  but  vacillating,  uncertain,  and  very 
unsatisfactory." 

"And  with  regard  to  the  reputation  of  being  a  discoverer, 
though  I  rejoice  —  I  might  say,  revel  and  triumph  —  in  the  prog- 
ress of  human  knowledge,  and  enjoy  the  sweetest  delight  in  con- 
templating the  advantages  to  mankind  which  are  derived  from  the 
introduction  of  useful  improvements,  yet  I  can  truly  say,  that  I 
set  no  very  high  value  on  the  honor  of  being  the  first  to  stumble 
on  those  treasures  which  everywhere  lie  so  slightly  covered. 

' '  On  the  first  view  of  the  matter,  it  appears  very  extraordinary 
indeed  that  any  person  should  ever,  in  any  instance,  neglect  to 

30 


avail  himself  of  an  invention  or  contrivance  within  his  power  to 
obtain,  that  is  evidently  calculated  to  increase  his  comforts,  or  to 
facilitate  his  labor,  or  to  increase  the  profits  of  it ;  but  when  we 
reflect  on  the  subject  with  attention,  and  consider  the  power  of 
habit,  and  then  recollect  how  difficult  it  is  even  for  a  person  to 
perceive  the  imperfections  of  instruments  to  which  he  has  been 
accustomed  from  his  early  youth,  our  surprise  that  improvements 
do  not  make  a  more  rapid  progress  will  be  greatly  lessened. 

"  But  there  is  a  great  variety  of  circumstances  that  are  un- 
favorable to  the  introduction  of  improvements.  The  very  proposal 
of  anything  new  commonly  carries  with  it  something  that  is  offen- 
sive ;  something  that  seems  to  imply  a  superiority  ;  and  even  that 
kind  of  superiority  precisely  to  which  mankind  are  least  disposed 
to  submit.11 

"  That  I  am  not  unreasonable  enough  to  expect  that  all  my  rec- 
ommendations will  be  immediately  attended  to,  is  evident  from 
the  pains  I  take  to  improve  machinery  now  in  use,  of  which  I  do 
not  approve,  and  which  is  perfectly  different  from  that  I  am  de- 
sirous to  see  introduced. 

"  There  are  few,  very  few  indeed,  who  do  not  feel  ashamed 
and  mortified  at  being  obliged  to  learn  anything  new  after  they 
have  for  a  long  time  been  considered  and  been  accustomed  to  con- 
sider themselves,  as  proficients  in  the  business  in  which  they  are 
engaged ;  and  their  awkwardness  in  their  new  apprenticeship, 
and  especially  when  they  are  obliged  to  work  with  tools,  with 
which  they  are  not  acquainted,  tends  much  to  increase  their  dis- 
like to  their  teacher  and  to  his  doctrines. 

"  There  are  some  difficulties,  no  doubt,  in  changing  the  habits 
of  a  nation ;  but  these  difficulties  have  been  too  much  exagger- 
ated, and  they  have  too  often  been  an  excuse  for  indolence. 

"If  anything  really  useful  be  proposed  to  the  public,  it  can 
hardly  fail  to  be  adopted,  if  it  be  properly  recommended  ;  but  so 
many  new  things,  unworthy  of  notice,  are  every  day  proposed, 
that  it  is  by  no  means  surprising  that  little  attention  is  paid  to 
such  recommendations  " 

31 


"Nothing  surely  is  so  disgraceful  to  society  and  to  individuals 
as  unmeaning  wastefulness. 

"  /  am  happy  when  I  find  that  improvement  leads  to  economy ; 
but  I  have  always  thought  that  excellence  should  never  be  sacri- 
ficed to  paltry  savings  in  anything,  and  least  of  all  in  those 
habitual  enjoyments  which  are  at  the  same  time  the  comforts  and 
consolations  of  life.' 

"Many  useful  improvements  have  been  proposed  by  ingenious 
and  enlightened  men,  which  have  failed,  merely  because  those 
who  have  brought  them  forward  have  neglected  to  give  directions 
sufficiently  clear  respecting  the  details  of  their  execution." 

"There  are  two  ways  in  which  philosophers,  as  well  as  other 
men,  may  be  excited  to  action,  and  induced  to  engage  zealously 
in  the  investigation  of  any  curious  subject  of  inquiry,  —  they  may 
be  enticed,  and  they  may  be  provoked.'1'1 

ON   THE   DUTIES   OF   TRAVELLERS. 

"  Those  whose  avocations  call  them  to  visit  distant  countries, 
and  those  whose  fortune  enables  them  to  travel  for  their  amuse- 
ment or  improvement,  have  many  opportunities  of  acquiring  useful 
information  ;  and  in  consequence  of  this  intercourse  with  strangers 
many  improvements,  and  more  rejinements,  have  been  introduced 
into  this  country ;  but  the  most  important  advantages  that  might 
be  derived  from  an  intimate  knowledge  of  the  manners  and  cus- 
toms of  different  nations  —  the  introduction  of  improvements 
tending  to  facilitate  the  means  of  subsistence,  and  to  increase  the 
comforts  and  conveniences  of  the  most  necessitous  and  most 
numerous  classes  of  society — have  been,  alas!  little  attended 
to.  Our  extensive  commerce  enables  us  to  procure,  and  we  do 
actually  import  most  of  the  valuable  commodities  which  are  the 
produce  either  of  the  soil,  of  the  ocean,  or  of  the  industry  of 
man  in  all  the  various  regions  of  the  habitable  globe  ;  bat  the  result 
of  the  experience  of  ages  respecting  the  use  that  can  be  made  of  those 
commodities  has  seldom  been  thought  worth  importing  !  I  never 
see  maccaroni  in  England,  or  polenta  in  Germany,  upon  the  tables 

32 


of  the  rich,  without  lamenting  that  those  cheap  and  wholesome 
luxuries  should  be  monopolized  by  those  who  stand  least  in  need 
of  them  ;  while  the  Poor,  who,  one  would  think,  ought  to  be  con- 
sidered as  having  almost  an  exclusive  right  to  them  (as  they 
were  both  invented  by  the  Poor  of  a  neighboring  nation),  are  kept 
in  perfect  ignorance  of  them." 

"  The  pleasure  enjoyed  in  eating  depends  first  upon  the  agree- 
ableness  of  the  taste  of  the  food  ;  and  secondly,  upon  its  power  to  af- 
fect the  palate.  Now,  there  are  many  substances  extremely  cheap 
by  which  very  agreeable  tastes  may  be  given  to  the  food,  par- 
ticularly when  the  basis  or  nutritive  substance  of  the  food  is 
tasteless ;  and  the  effect  of  any  kind  of  palatable  solid  food  (of 
meat,  for  instance)  upon  the  organs  of  taste  may  be  increased 
almost  indefinitely  by  reducing  the  size  of  the  particles  of  such 
food,  and  causing  it  to  act  upon  the  palate  by  a  larger  surface. 
And  if  means  be  used  to  prevent  its  being  swallowed  too  soon 
.  .  .  the  enjoyment  of  eating  may  be  greatly  increased  and 
prolonged. 

"  The  idea  of  occupying  a  person  a  great  while,  and  affording 
him  much  pleasure  at  the  same  time,  in  eating  a  small  quantity 
of  food,  may,  perhaps,  appear  ridiculous  to  some;  but  those  who 
consider  the  matter  attentively,  will  perceive  that  it  is  very  im- 
portant. It  is,  perhaps,  as  much  so  as  anything  that  can  employ 
the  attention  of  the  philosopher. 

"  The  enjoyments  which  fall  to  the  lot  of  the  bulk  of  mankind 
are  not  so  numerous  as  to  render  an  attempt  to  increase  them  su- 
perfluous. And  even  in  regard  to  those  who  have  it  in  their  power 
to  gratify  their  appetites,  it  is  surely  rendering  them  a  very  im- 
portant service  to  show  them  how  they  may  increase  their  pleas- 
ures without  destroying  their  health." 

"  It  is  a  maxim,  as  ancient,  I  believe,  as  the  time  of  Hippoc- 
rates, that  « whatever  pleases  the  palate  nourishes ; '  and  I  have 
often  had  reason  to  think  it  perfectly  just.  Could  it  be  clearly 

33 


ascertained  and  demonstrated,  it  would  tend  to  place  cookery  in 
a  much  more  respectable  situation  among  the  arts  than  it  now 
holds." 

"That  the  manner  in  which  food  is  prepared  is  a  matter  of 
real  importance,  and  that  the  water  used  in  that  process  acts  a  much 
more  important  part  than  has  been  hitherto  generally  imagined,  is, 
I  think,  quite  evident;  for  it  seems  to  me  to  be  impossible,  upon 
any  other  supposition,  to  account  for  the  appearances.  If  the  very 
small  quantity  of  solid  food  which  enters  into  the  composition  of 
a  portion  of  some  very  nutritive  soup  were  to  be  prepared  differ- 
ently and  taken  under  some  other  form,  that  of  bread,  for  instance, 
so  far  from  being  sufficient  to  satisfy  hunger,  and  afford  a  com- 
fortable and  nutritive  meal,  a  person  would  absolutely  starve  upon 
such  a  slender  allowance ;  and  no  great  relief  would  be  derived 
from  drinking  crude  water  to  fill  up  the  void  in  the  stomach." 

"...  It  seems  to  me  to  be  more  than  probable  that  the 
number  of  inhabitants  who  may  be  supported  in  any  country, 
upon  its  internal  produce,  depends  almost  as  much  upon  the  state 
of  the  art  of  cookery  as  upon  that  of  agriculture. 

"...  But  if  cookery  be  of  so  much  importance,  it  certainly 
deserves  to  be  studied  with  the  greatest  care ;  and  it  ought  to  be 
particularly  attended  to  in  times  of  general  alarm,  on  account 
of  a  scarcity  of  provisions ;  for  the  relief  which  may  in  such 
cases  be  derived  from  it,  is  immediate  and  effectual,  while  all 
other  resources  are  distant  and  uncertain." 

"  Considering  what  circumstance  in  life,  after  the  necessaries, 
food  and  raiment,  contributes  most  to  comfort,  I  found  it  to  be 
cleanliness.  And  so  very  extensive  is  the  influence  of  cleanliness 
that  it  reaches  even  to  the  brute  creation. 

"  With  what  care  and  attention  do  the  feathered  race  wash 
themselves  and  put  their  plumage  in  order ;  and  how  perfectly 
neat,  clean,  and  elegant  do  they  ever  appear!  Among  the  beasts 
of  the  field  we  find  that  those  which  are  the  most  cleanly  are  gen- 
erally the  most  gay  and  cheerful ;  or  are  distinguished  by  a  certain 

34 


air  of  tranquillity  and  contentment;  and  singing  birds  are  always 
remarkable  for  the  neatness  of  their  plumage,  and  so  great  is  the 
effect  of  cleanliness  upon  man,  that  it  extends  even  to  his  moral 
character.  Virtue  never  dwelt  long  with  tilth  and  nastiness,  nor 
do  I  believe  there  ever  was  a  person  scrupulously  attentive  to  clean- 
liness who  was  a  consummate  villain. 

"Brute  animals  are  evidently  taught  cleanliness  by  instinct; 
and  can  there  be  a  stronger  proof  of  its  being  essentially  neces- 
sary to  their  well-being  and  happiness  ?  But  if  cleanliness  is 
necessary  to  the  happiness  of  brutes,  how  much  more  so  must  it 
be  to  the  happiness  of  the  human  race! 

"The  good  effects  of  cleanliness,  or  rather  the  bad  effects  of 
filth  and  nastiness,  may,  I  think,  be  very  satisfactorily  accounted 
for.  Our  bodies  are  continually  at  war  with  whatever  offends 
them,  and  everything  offends  them  that  adheres  to  them  and  irri- 
tates them  ;  and  though  by  long  habits  we  may  be  so  accustomed 
to  supporting  a  physical  ill,  as  to  become  almost  insensible  to  it, 
yet  it  never  leaves  the  mind  perfectly  at  peace.  There  always 
remains  a  certain  uneasiness  and  discontent ;  an  indecision,  and  an 
aversion  from  all  serious  application,  which  shows  evidently  that 
the  mind  is  not  at  rest." 

"  Order  and  disorder,  peace  and  war,  health  and  sickness, 
cannot  exist  together;  but  comfort  and  contentment,  the  insepa- 
rable companions  of  happiness  and  virtue,  can  only  arise  from 
order,  peace,  and  health." 


35 


THE    RUMFORD    KITCHEN    LEAFLETS. 

No.  3. 


KING    PALATE. 

By  MARY  HINMAN  ABEL. 

KING  PALATE  was  once  monarch  of  a  mighty  realm.  There 
was  no  one  to  dispute  his  sway,  and,  like  all  absolute  rulers,  he 
grew  very  lawless  in  his  conduct.  In  fact,  he  did  just  as  he 
pleased. 

He  had,  in  the  good  old  days,  only  one  care,  that  the  tables 
should  be  well  loaded  for  the  daily  feasts  that  he  held  with  his 
subjects  ;  sorrow  came  to  the  royal  heart  only  when  the  fish  sulked 
in  the  pond  or  the  deer  outran  the  hunter. 

But  there  came  a  time  when  it  was  known  that  enemies  lurked 
in  his  realm ;  a  band  of  impish  creatures  now  and  then  descended 
upon  him  and  wrought  all  manner  of  mischief  in  his  land.  They 
were  Indigestion,  Dyspepsia,  Gout,  Liver  Disease,  Delirium 
Tremens,  and  a  hundred  others,  big'and  little,  and  they  grievously 
tormented  his  subjects  and  drove  the  king  to  his  wits'  end.  All 
his  skilled  magicians  were  not  able  to  drive  away  the  enemy, 
though  they  brewed  many  a  nauseous  potion,  and  sought  far  and 
wide  for  charms  to  defend  against  these  attacks. 

But  there  was  growing  up  in  the  court  of  the  king  a  youth  of 
wondrous  promise.  His  name  was  Knowledge,  and  he  had  been 
brought  as  a  child  from,  a  far  land.  It  was  even  whispered  that 

COPYRIGHT," ~1893,  BY  ELLEN  H.  RICHAKDS. 


when  he  grew  strong  enough  he  meant  to  usurp  the  throne  and 
drive  King  Palate  quite  out  of  the  kingdom. 

But  no,  though  he  sat  not  at  the  nightly  revels,  he  obeyed  the 
daily  commands  of  the  king  with  all  courtesy,  and  spoke  words 
of  wisdom  in  his  ear  after  each  grievous  visitation  of  the  imps. 
"It  is  you,  ()  King  Palate,  that  have  brought  this  sorrow  on  the 
land.  These  imps  are  your  own  children,  born  of  Ignorance  ;  it 
is  under  cover  of  your  name  that  they  do  their  evil.  Suffer  no 
more  of  them  to  go  abroad,  but  let  your  subjects  learn  of  me,  who 
am  come  to  be  your  prime  minister.  Alone  you  can  never  again 
reign  in  peace,  nor  am  I  wise  enough  to  rule  without  you  for 
the  experience  of  the  ages  is  yours,  but  together  we  may  rule  in 
honor  and  rid  the  land  of  its  foes." 

This  was  long  ago  when  Knowledge  was  indeed  but  a  stripling, 
and  the  old  King  called  him  a  fool  and  an  upstart  and  went  his 
own  way.  But  it  was  noticed  that  after  each  attack  of  the  imps 
he  listened  with  more  patience  to  the  youth.  And  now  the  youth 
has  grown  into  a  man  and  King  Palate  can  no  longer  scorn  him, 
although  he  still  falls  into  a  passion  now  and  then  and  roars: 
"You  are  always  weighing  and  considering,  and  you've  even 
been  known  to  change  your  mind  !  I,  alone,  am  never  in  doubt." 
To  which  Knowledge  replies,  ft  Quite  true  ;  but  you  are  to  blame  for 
the  imps,  and  I  am  the  only  one  who  has  anything  to  drive  them 
away ! " 

On  the  whole,  they  are  coming  to  be  pretty  good  friends,  and 
the  land  thrives  as  their  quarrels  lessen.  The  subjects  are  even 
hopeful  that  the  imps  may  yet  be  turned  out  of  the  kingdom  alto- 
gether. 


87 


THE    BUMFOBD    KITCHEN"   LEAFLETS. 

No.  4. 


COMPARATIVE  NUTRITION. 

Revised  for  the  Rumford  Kitchen,  by  EDWARD  ATKINSON. 

WHILE  my  recent  book  upon  "  The  Science  of  Nutrition  "  *  was 
going  through  the  press,  a  beginning  was  made  in  treating  the 
subject  of  comparative  nutrition. 

When  the  twelve  dietaries  which  have  been  given  in  this  trea- 
tise had  been  prepared,  it  seemed  probable  that  some  use  might 
be  made  of  them  in  determining  the  relative  cost  of  nutrition  at 
the  American  standard  in  different  States  and  countries.  I  could 
not,  of  course,  expect  to  make  anything  but  a  crude  beginning  in 
this  matter,  because  the  habit  of  nutrition,  if  one  may  use  this 
expression,  varies  greatly  according  to  soil,  climate,  conditions, 
and  wages. 

In  countries  where  meat  is  scarce,  the  chief  source  of  nitrogen 
is  found  in  a  large  relative  consumption  of  cheese  or  of  beans  or 
other  legumes.  How  far  the  price  of  a  suitable  day's  ration  may 
be  equalized  by  the  purchase  of  cheese  or  legumes  in  place  of 
meat  remains  to  be  dealt  with.  For  the  moment  a  few  compari- 
sons may  be  interesting. 

It  will  be  observed  that  in  the  twelve  dietaries  given  in  the 
book  the  constants,  consisting  of  grain,  vegetables,  and  a  modi- 

1 "  The  Science  of  Nutrition."  Boston  :  Damrell  &  Upham,  School  and  Washing- 
ton  Streets. 


COPYRIGHT,  1893,  BY  ELLEN  H.  RICHARDS. 

38 


cum  of  butter  or  fat,  are  uniform ;  they  are  computed  in  sufficient 
quantities  to  support  life,  and  are  named 


THE   LIFE   RATION. 

The  variables,  consisting  mainly  of  meat,  are  given  of  differ- 
ent quantities,  at  different  prices,  and  are  named 

THE   WORK   RATION. 

All  prices  are  given  at  retail  for  small  quantities,  except  flour, 
which  is  assumed  to  be  purchased  by  the  sack  or  barrel. 

Rations  corresponding  to  Dietaries  Nos.  1  to  4,  those  costing 
12  to  13  cts.  per  day  each,  in  Boston,  Mass.,  have  been  computed 
in  various  places,  with  the  following  results  : 

Cost  of  57  Ibs.  grain,  vegetables,  and  fat,  and  25  Ibs.  of  cheap 
cuts  of  meat,  82  Ibs.  in  all ;  sufficient  for  rations  for  30  days, 
at  3,467  Calories  per  day,  the  standard  of  a  German  soldier  on  a 
war  footing  being  3,093  Calories. 


WORK       rP 
RATION.       r°TAT" 
30  days.      30  days. 


DATE. 
1891. 
April. 

November. 

December. 
September. 
September. 

November. 
October. 
September. 
October. 
December. 
October. 
October. 
1892. 
February. 
January. 
March. 

E 

a 

Boston,  Mass.,  U.S.A.  (short  crop  of 
vegetables    1890) 

LIFE 

CATION. 
10  days. 

$2  31 

2  08 
1  43 
2  00 

2  16 
2  42 
1  70 
2  52 
1  54 
2  40 
1  38 
1  87 

2  53 
3  14 
3  30 

Boston,    Mass.,   U.S.A.    (vegetables 
abundant)     

Bismarck,  N.  Dakota,  U.S.  A  
Paris  France  

London,  England  (in  workmen's  sec- 
tionl    

London,  England  (in  West  End  shops), 
Madison,  Wis.,  U.S.  A  
Beyrouth  and  Nurcmburg,  Germany, 
Topeka  Kansas  USA. 

New  Orleans,  La.,  U.S.A  
Lincoln,  Neb.   U  S.A 

Ann  Arbor,  Mich.,  U.S.A  

Dresden,  Germany  
Munich,  Bavaria    

f  1  78 

1  77 

2  42 
2  81 

2  52 

3  60 
1  77 
3  76 
1  53 
1  92 
1  78 
1  86 

3  93 

3  30 

3  63 


3  85 

3  85 

4  81 

4  68 
6  02 
3  47 
6  28 

3  07 

4  32 
3  16 
3  73 

6  46 
6  44 
693 


39 


LIPE  RATION.      WORK  RATION.      TOTAL. 
Cents  Cents  Cents 

per  day.  per  day.         per  day. 

Boston,  Mass .  7  70  5  93  13  63 

Boston,  Mass 6  93  5  90  12  83 

Bismarck,  N.  Dakota 4  77  8  07  12  84 

Paris,  France 6  66  9  37  16  03 

London,  England 7  20  8  40  15  60 

London,  England 8  06  12  00  20  06 

Madison,  Wis 5  66  5  90  11  56 

BeyreuthandNuremburg.Germany,  840  1253  2093 

Topeka,  Kansas 5  13  5 10  10  23 

New  Orleans,  La .  8  00  6  40  14  40 

Lincoln,  Neb ..<,..  4  60  5  93  10  53 

Ann  Arbor,  Mich 6  23  6  20  12  43 

Brussels,  Belgium 8  43  13  10  21  53 

Dresden,  Germany 10  05  11  00  21  05 

Munich,  Bavaria 11  00  12  10  23  10 

The  two  returns  from  Dresden  and  Munich  show  the  effect  of  tne  short  crop  of 
grain  in  1891  upon  prices. 

I  can  of  course  claim  only  approximate  accuracy  for  these  com- 
parisons. The  personal  equation  will  have  a  varying  influence 
in  obtaining  prices.  The  habits  of  the  people  must  be  taken  into 
view.  In  Boston,  for  instance,  the  tougher  and  coarser  parts  of 
beeves  are  sold  for  food ;  in  Bismarck,  North  Dakota,  they  are 
probably  put  into  the  fat-rendering  vats,  not  even  being  prepared 
for  sale. 

I  have  also  been  disappointed  in  the  small  number  of  returns 
received  in  reply  tv  my  circular,  but  yet  hope  to  extend  this 
inquiry,  as  there  are  now  several  associations  in  this  country  and 
in  Europe  which  have  taken  up  this  matter  in  different  ways. 

Suffice  it  that  even  this  beginning  is  very  suggestive.  It 
proves  that  where  the  nitrogenous  element  in  food  is  abundant 
and  cheap,  labor  is  effective  and  wages  are  high.  Where  the 
nitrogenous  element  is  scarce  and  dear,  labor  is  not  effective  and 
wages  are  low. 

Which  is  the  antecedent  and  which  is  the  consequent? 

It  will  be  observed  that  there  is  a  much  greater  uniformity  in 

40 


the  price  of  the  life  ration  than  of  the  work  ration.  May  not 
this  indicate  a  deficiency  of  nitrogen  as  the  cause  of  low  rates  of 
wages  ? 

Again,  if  one  may  venture  upon  a  somewhat  visionary  hypothe- 
sis, another  comparison  may  be  made  and  another  question  may 
be  asked. 

Where  the  burden  of  armies  and  navies  is  heavy,  nitrogenous 
food  is  scarce  among  the  people,  —  the  army  must  be  sustained 
even  if  the  poor  workmen  starve.  Witness  Russia  at  the  present 
time.  Why  must  armies  be  sustained? 

The  army  and  the  naval  forces  of  the  United  States  number 
only  about  30,000  men,  and  are  all  that  we  require.  At  the  ratio 
to  population  of  European  armies  and  navies,  making  comparison 
only  with  the  force  in  camp  or  barracks  and  paying  no  regard  to 
reserves,  our  army  and  naval  forces  would  number  from  600,000 
to  800,000  men  ;  and  since  it  takes  the  product  of  at  least  one  man 
to  support  one  worse  than  idle  soldier,  such  a  burden  would  be 
equivalent  to  setting  apart  10  per  cent,  or  more  of  all  the  men  of 
arms-bearing  age  from  the  productive  and  constructive  work  in 
which  they  are  now  occupied,  to  waste  the  most  valuable  and 
effective  portion  of  their  lives  in  the  destructive  work  of  prepara- 
tion for  war. 

The  mere  money  cost  of  this  system  of  militarism,  which  is  eat- 
ing away  the  vital  force  of  most  of  the  European  states,  is  about 
$1,000,000,000  a  year.  I  am  aware  that  army  drill  and  discipline 
is  justified  as  a  mode  of  education.  What  does  it  cost  ?  In  Ger- 
many women  do  the  scavenger  work,  —  sweep  the  streets,  mix 
the  mortar  for  the  builders,  and  perform  the  hardest  work  of  the 
field,  — while  the  men,  at  the  most  productive  period  of  efficiency, 
are  obtaining  the  education  thus  claimed  to  be  justified.  France  is 
a  little  better  off,  but  many  parts  of  Italy  are  worse. 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  science  of  nutrition  is  not  confined 
to  the  domestic  kitchen  or  to  the  recipe  book. 

As  the  supply  of  food  comes  to  half  the  cost  of  life  or  more,  in 
many  parts  of  this  prosperous  country,  so  the  barbaric  folly  may 

41 


be  conceived  of  taxing1  the  masses  for  the  support  of  the  classes 
by  whom  the  military  system  is  sustained  and  the  military  caste  is 
supported  in  Europe. 

The  foregoing  statements  of  the  relative  cost  of  nutrition  must 
indicate  that  the  proportionate  cost  of  food  to  other  elements  in 
the  cost  of  living  is  less  in  the  Western  States  and  cities  than  in  the 
East  or  in  Europe.  In  fact,  the  relation  of  food  supply  to  the 
rate  of  earnings  is  even  a  more  important  factor  than  now 
appears.  One  can  even  predicate  a  rule  on  what  is  now  known. 
It  may  be  put  in  this  form : 

To  him  that  hath  food  in  abundance  shall  be  given  the 
power  to  gain  more ;  from  him  that  hath  not  shall  be  taken 
even  that  which  he  hath. 

These  considerations  bring  into  view  the  importance  of  the 
problem  of  securing  a  supply  of  nitrogen  at  less  cost..  Our  agri- 
cultural chemists  and  physiologists  tell  us  that  nitrogen  is  the 
most  important,  and  at  the  same  time  the  least  abundant  and  most 
costly  element  in  the  nutrition  of  the  plant,  the  beast,  and  the  man. 
The  atmosphere  is  four-fifths  nitrogen  and  we  can't  yet  catch  it ; 
the  iron-smelting  furnaces  of  this  country  are  giving  off  ammonia 
enough  to  supply  nitrogen  to  our  fields,  in  large  measure,  and  we 
waste  it.  We  have  begun  to  save  the  phosphatic  slag  of  the  furnaces 
for  use  as  a  fertilizer,  and  thus  to  convert  iron  ore  into  corn  and 
wheat,  —  the  next  man  will  save  the  ammonia.  In  the  meantime, 
the  myriads  of  bacteria  and  microbes  are  being  summoned  to  our 
aid,  who,  living  in  their  little  dwelling-places  attached  to  the 
roots  of  clover,  cow-pea  vines,  and  other  renovating  plants,  draw 
nitrogen  from  the  air  to  supply  the  plant  which,  when  turned 
under,  renovates  the  soil. 

The  present  need  in  this  country  is  not  so  much  of  in- 
struction how  to  earn  as  how  to  spend  an  income,  especially  a 
small  one. 

If  the  energy  which  corresponds  to  the  present  waste  of  food 
material  could  be  spent  for  more  adequate  shelter,  the  evils  of 
the  slums  would  be  abated  and  the  bad  tenements  in  the  slums 

42 


would  be  renovated.  One  may  be  warranted  in  estimating  the 
present  waste  of  food  and  fuel  at  live  cents  a  day  for  each  person, 
which  is  approximately  twenty  per  cent,  of  the  expenditure.  To 
this  we  may  add  two  cents  a  day,  or  less  than  half  what  is  annu- 
ally spent  for  liquors  and  tobacco  —  say  seven  cents  a  day  in  all. 
There  are  about  65,000,000  of  us  now,  divided  into  13,000,000 
average  families  of  five  each. 

At  seven  cents  a  day  the  measure  of  our  waste  of  energy  in 
converting  good  food  into  bad  feeding,  and  upon  liquor  and 
tobacco  at  less  than  half  their  cost,  amounts  in  each  year  to 
$1,660,750,000.  If  this  waste  of  misdirected  energy  were  con- 
verted into  better  methods  of  providing  shelter,  it  would  enable 
each  family  of  five  persons  to  spend  $1271705ff  a  year  more  for 
their  dwelling-places  than  they  do  now. 

Suppose  the  waste  only  four  cents  a  day,  —  two  cents  on  food  and 
two  on  liquor  and  tobacco,  —  even  that  comes  to  nearly  $1,000,- 
000,000  worth  of  misdirected  energy ;  and  the  waste  is  greatest 
among  those  who  can  spare  it  least. 

I  have  said  that  the  education  most  needed  now  is  how  to 
spend,  more  than  how  to  earn.  1  find  as  much  evidence  of  this  in 
the  present  expenditures  upon  hospitals,  college  buildings,  and 
school-houses  as  I  do  in  the  conversion  of  good  food  into  bad  feed- 
ing. In  the  ordinary  practice  of  combustible  architecture,  of 
which  this  class  of  buildings  are  apt  to  be  typical  examples,  I  find 
hospitals  in  which  the  inmates  are  exposed  to  cremation  before 
they  are  dead,  covered  in  with  crazy  roofs  which  do  not  keep  out 
the  weather ;  college  buildings  which  give  the  minimum  of  space 
and  comfort  at  the  maximum  of  cost,  in  which  poor  students  can 
only  be  admitted  by  accepting  charity ;  and  finally  school-houses 
in  which  about  two  in  three  are  bad  types  of  separate  invention 
on  different  plans,  each  more  or  less  unsuitable  to  its  purpose,  and 
costing  from  fifty  to  five  hundred  per  cent,  more  than  the  sum 
for  which  a  true  typical  school-house  can  be  constructed  if  the 
motive  of  the  work  be  light,  air,  and  ventilation  rather  than  out- 
side appearances. 

43 


A  typical  school-house  can  be  planned  and  specified  .in  inter- 
changeable parts,  so  that  orders  could  be  given  for  four,  six, 
eight,  and  ten  room  buildings  of  good  exterior  design  and  exactly 
adapted  to  their  purpose  within,  with  the  same  absolute  assurance 
of  minimum  cost  that  has  been  secured  in  the  construction  of  the 
textile  factory,  the  paper  mill,  and  the  machine  shop  of  New 
England. 

In  the  light  basement  of  this  school-house  nearly  or  wholly 
above  ground  (a  school-house  ought  never  to  have  a  dark  cellar 
under  it)  provision  may  be  made  for  the  service  of  the  building, 
for  manual  instruction,  and  for  a  cooking  laboratory,  in  which 
instruction  may  be  given  in  the  simple  principles  of  the  Science 
of  Nutrition  and  in  the  art  of  applying  heat  under  due  control 
and  regulation  to  the  conversion  of  food  material  into  nutritious 
food.  This  can  be  done  without  encumbering  the  premises  witli 
costly  stoves  or  ranges,  but  by  making  very  simple  provision 
for  cooking  the  food,  whatever  it  may  be,  in  such  a  manner  as  to 
enable  the  boy  or  girl  to  carry  back  to  the  household  such  an 
example  of  right  method  as  to  make  the  common  practice  dis- 
tasteful. If  the  true  kind  of  cooking  apparatus  were  set  up,  any 
k.md  of  food  could  be  dealt  with,  and  in  this  way  right  methods 
might  soon  be  brought  into  common  practice. 

44 


THE    BUMFORD    KITCHEN    LEAFLETS, 

No.  5. 


ON  EXTERNAL  DIGESTION,  COMMONLY  CALLED 
ALIMENTATION. 

Written  for  the  Rumford  Kitchen  by  W.  T.  SEDGWICK. 

THE  digestion  of  food  begins  on  its  arrival  in  the  mouth,  but 
the  digestion  of  food-stuffs  begins  much  earlier  than  this.  Ali- 
mentation, or  the  preparation  of  food  for  digestion  within  the 
body,  is  only  another  name  for  a  long  series  of  processes,  essen- 
tially digestive,  outside  the  body.  From  the  raw  materials  or 
food-stuffs  supplied  by  nature,  until  they  become  the  appetizing 
morsels  which  we  eat,  the  history  of  the  stuffs  which  go  to  make 
our  food  is  as  long  and  as  interesting  as  any  that  can  be  written 
of  their  shifting  fortunes  in  the  alimentary  canal.  To  this  set  of 
processes  and  phenomena  we  apply  the  term  external  digestion, 
of  which  the  following  is  an  epitomized  history. 

Man  finds  in  nature  certain  raw  materials  which  contain  his 
food,  that  is  to  say,  certain  stuffs  available  for  his  nutrition. 
Chemically  these  are  mainly  proteids,  carbohydrates,  fats,  salts, 
and  water.  The  raw  materials  are  chiefly  animal  and  vegetable 
substances,  but  partly  mineral.  The  latter  are  mostly  absorbable 
in  the  condition  in  which  they  are  found,  and  therefore  need  no 
digestion ;  but  with  the  raw  materials  of  the  plant  and  animal 
worlds  it  is  very  different. 

Reduced  to  its  lowest  terms,  one  of  the  most  difficult  problems 
of  our  physical  life  is  the  preparation  of  certain  stuffs,  derived 

COPYBIGHT,  1893,  BY  ELLEN   H.  RlCHABDS. 

45 


from  plants  and  animals,  for  absorption,  first  into  the  common 
carrier,  the  blood,  and  finally  into  the  living  body  substance.  It 
is  the  ultimate  incorporation  of  the  absorbed  material  and  its 
promotion  to  the  living  state  which  rebuilds  the  body  and  makes 
good  the  inevitable  waste.  This  it  is  which  constitutes  the  con- 
structive phase  of  metabolism  —  our  modern  name  for  the  whole 
series  of  remote  and  hidden  processes  of  life  itself. 

The  word  "  digestion  "  means,  literally,  to  "  carry  apart,  divide, 
or  separate ; "  and  in  physiology  this  process  of  separation  well 
applies,  first,  to  mere  subdivision  or  mechanical  comminution, 
such  as  we  have  in  the  grinding  of  corn  or  the  mastication  of 
food ;  and,  second,  and  more  significantly,  to  the  separation  of  the 
useful  from  the  useless,  of  the  wheat  from  the  chaff,  of  the  nutri- 
tious from  the  innutritions,  and,  especially,  of  the  absorbable 
from  the  unabsorbable.  Just  as  the  lawyer  makes  and  uses  a 
"digest"  of  the  laws,  —  the  raw  products  of  legislation,  —  so 
man  makes  and  uses  a  digest  of  the  raw  materials  which  nature 
offers  to  him.  And  to  physical  and  mechanical  processes,  which 
are  as  important  as  they  ever  were,  art  and  science  have  added  in 
recent  years  a  knowledge  of  others  essentially  chemical ;  so  that 
the  best  definition  that  we  can  give  to-day  of  the  whole  process 
of  digestion  is  a  very  broad  one  ;  viz.,  The  preparation  of  food- 
stuffs for  absorption  into  the  body  proper. 

An  important  part  of  this  preparation  is  done  in  a  special  tube, 
the  so-called  alimentary  canal,  perforating  the  solid  body  and 
open  at  both  ends,  lined  by  delicate  surfaces.  Here  the  partly 
digested  food-stuffs  are  still  further  treated,  for  the  most  part 
chemically,  with  special  reagents  (like  the  gastric  juice)  secreted 
from  the  living  walls  of  the  tube ;  and  here  also  the  absorbable 
nutritive  portions  are  taken  up  through  the  surfaces  spoken  of 
into  the  circulation,  the  refractory  residue  being  rejected  and 
passed  out  as  waste.  This  tube,  or  alimentary  canal,  is,  there- 
fore, merely  a  convenient  laboratory  for  digestion  and  a  protected 
place  for  absorption,  and  although  things  within  the  alimentary 

46 


canal  are  not  really  within  the  body  proper,  we  may  conveniently 
speak  of  that  treatment  of  food-stuffs  which  goes  on  in  the  ali- 
mentary canal  as  internal  digestion.  Equally  important,  how- 
ever, is  external  digestion,  or  that  treatment  of  food-stuffs  which 
takes  place  outside  of  the  alimentary  canal. 

The  first  step  in  the  whole  process  of  digestion  is  the  separation 
of  the  raw  materials  from  their  customary  environment.  The 
reaping  of  grain,  the  capture  of  animals,  the  gathering  of  fruit, 
the  digging  of  roots  or  tubers,  all  are  examples  of  this  first 
great  step  in  digestion,  —  the  process  already  pointing  towards 
absorption  by  the  body,  the  result  ministering  to  its  nutrition. 
After  the  reaping  of  the  wheat  comes  the  threshing,  which 
separates  the  grain  from  the  straw;  and  then  the  winnowing, 
which  divides  the  wheat  from  the  chaff.  Next  the  already 
much-digested  seeds  are  pulverized  by  grinding,  and  refined  by 
bolting,  until  at  last  we  have  the  purified  product  in  the  form 
of  flour,  a  beautiful  white  powder  consisting  largely  of  broken 
clusters  of  almost  invisible  starch- grains. 

Up  to  this  point  agriculture  and  the  mechanic  arts  have 
done  the  digesting;  but  now  the  housewife  comes  upon  the 
stage  and  applies  the  chemistry  of  the  kitchen.  The  food-stuff 
(flour)  is  not  yet  fitted  for  absorption ;  it  is  still  only  partially 
digested,  and,  able  as  the  human  stomach  is,  it  cannot  readily 
digest  raw  starch.  Experience  early  taught  man  this,  and  in- 
vention how  to  help  his  own  digestive  powers  by  cookery  —  a 
further  refinement  of  external  digestion.  By  adding  water,  the 
commonest  of  chemical  reagents,  the  flour-particles  are  first 
separated  from  each  other,  after  which  the  starch-grains  are 
thoroughly  disintegrated  by  heat  while  they  absorb  water  and 
burst.  Agreeable  flavors  and  tastes  are  developed  at  the  high 
temperature  of  a  hot  oven,  by. means  of  the  partial  conversion 
of  some  of  the  original  starch  into  caramel  or  other  sapid  sub- 
stances, and,  usually,  the  mass  already  made  porous  by  "  raising," 
now  becomes  brittle  in  baking.  With  only  one  step  more,  the 

47 


changing  of  the  unabsorbable  starch  to  absorbable  sugar,  the 
work  of  starch  digestion  is  ended.  This  last  step,  however,  is 
not  done  outside  the  body,  but  is  reserved  for  the  internal  labora- 
tory, or  alimentary  canal.  Thus,  at  last,  the  whole  sheaf  of 
wheat,  after  reaping,  threshing,  winnowing,  grinding,  bolting, 
yields  a  little  flour,  and  the  latter,  after  chemical  treatment  with 
water  and  fire,  becomes  bread.  Surely  we  earn  our  bread  by 
the  sweat  of  our  brow. 

As  with  the  grain,  so,  likewise,  is  it  with  fruits,  roots,  and 
tubers.  The  peach  is  plucked,  or  divided  from  the  tree.  Its 
centre  and  its  circumference  are  rejected,  and  only  the  inter- 
mediate layer,  either  raw  or  after  treatment  with  fire,  is  accepted 
as  food  destined  to  undergo  further  (internal)  digestion.  Dug  or 
pulled  and  thus  "carried  apart"  from  the  earth,  potatoes  or 
parsnips  are  seized  upon  for  digestion.  They  are  washed  and 
peeled,  and  then  heated,  by  boiling  or  baking  or  frying. 

The  ox  or  the  sheep  or  the  wild  beast  is  likewise  "  carried  apart " 
from  its  home,  killed,  skinned,  decapitated,  drawn  and  quartered ; 
the  whole  process  consisting  in  a  separation  or  digestion  of  the 
more  nutritious  or  useful  portions  from  the  less.  In  the  kitchen 
or  upon  the  table  the  flesh  is  separated  from  the  bone  and  some- 
times the  fat  from  the  lean,  and  only  the  most  digestible  portions 
are  cooked,  devoured,  and  finally  internally  digested  and  made 
absorbable. 

Now,  as  in  the  case  of  starch,  comes  in  the  housewife's  part, 
an  external,  chemical  digestion,  treatment  by  fire,  which  makes 
easy  for  the  stomach  a  long  step  in  the  process  towards  perfect 
digestion.  The  quick,  hot  fire  making  more  brittle  the  tender 
parts,  the  long  slow  heat  for  the  separation  of  the  fibres  of  the 
tougher  portions,  here  find  their  scientific  application.  Acces- 
sories of  the  cook's  art,  to  rouse  an  appetite  for  "good  digestion" 
to  "wait  on,"  here,  also,  have  their  rightful  place,  but  it  is  essential 
that  every  step  taken  shall  be  forwards  and  not  backwards.  Every 
process  iri  the  domestic  food  laboratory  or  kitchen,  as  well  as 

48 


elsewhere  in  this  series,  if  properly  carried  out,  must  always  make 
the  food-stuff  more,  not  less,  adapted  to  its  end ;  viz.,  absorption 
through  the  living  walls  of  the  alimentary  canal  to  minister  to 
human  nutrition. 

These  are  some  of  the  processes  of  alimentation  or  external 
digestion,  and,  although  they  are  plainly  only  forerunners  of  the, 
mainly  chemical,  processes  which  characterize  the  more  often 
mentioned  internal  digestion  in  the  alimentary  canal,  who  shall 
say  that  they  are  less  important  ?  Viewed  in  this  broader  light, 
agriculture  and  a  host  of  the  humbler  arts  of  life  are  ennobled, 
while  cookeiy  becomes  not  merely  an  art,  but  an  important  branch 
of  physiological  chemistry. 

49 


RUMFORD   KITCHEN    LEAFLETS. 

No.  6. 


WATER  AND  AIR   AS   FOOD. 

BY  ELLEN  H.  RICHARDS. 

Printed  first  in  The  American  Kitchen  Magazine  by  permission. 

WATER  and  air  are  the  two  great  carriers  of  the  world,  without 
which  life,  as  it  is  known  on  our  planet,  would  be  impossible. 
Growth  and  decay  require  the  presence  of  moisture,  and,  in  most 
instances,  that  of  air  also.  To  preserve  any  organic  substance  in- 
definitely it  is  only  necessary  to  dry  it  completely  and  keep  it  dry ; 
but  preservation  is  not  living,  and  life  means  change,  and  change 
means  the  presence  of  water  and  air. 

I.       WATER   AS    A    FOOD. 

If  a  food  material  may  be  defined  as  any  substance  which  it  is 
necessary  to  take  into  the  body  daily  in  order  that  life  and  health 
may  be  sustained,  then  water  is  a  food  of  the  first  importance, 
since  no  metabolism  or  chemical  change,  can  take  place  in  the  body 
without  it.  It  is  an  almost  universal  solvent,  and  as  the  digestive 
tract  is  a  closed  sac,  only  such  substances  as  have  been  made  solu- 
ble can  pass  through  the  walls.  As  a  rule,  dilute  solutions 
dialyze  more  readily  than  concentrated  ones,  and  sufficient  water 
must  be  present  in  order  that  the  necessary  interchange  may  take 
place  between  the  contents  of  the  intestines  and  the  blood-vessels 
and  between  the  blood-vessels  and  the  individual  cells. 

Since  the  blood  is  the  carrier  of  provisions  to  all  parts  of  the 

50 


body,  it  must  flow  freely  and  must  have  the  property  of  dissolving 
yet  more  material,  since  it  not  only  carries  food,  but  brings  away 
the  waste.  It  must  be  kept  at  about  the  same  dilution  in  order  to 
retain  its  solvent  power. 

The  fluids  and  tissues  of  the  normal  human  body  contain  seventy 
to  seventy-five  per  cent,  of  water,  and  this  amount  is  to  be  main- 
tained in  spite  of  evaporation  and  excretion,  if  the  normal  processes 
are  to  go  on  smoothly.  In  order  to  maintain  this  proportion,  more 
or  less  water  is  to  be  taken  according  to  circumstances.  Each 
person  must  discover  for  himself  the  right  amount,  only  it  is,  as 
a  rule,  safer  to  take  too  much  than  too  little.  The  body  has 
several  ways  of  getting  rid  of  an  excess,  but  if  its  calls  for  more 
are  not  responded  to  it  trenches  upon  its  reserves  to  the  detriment 
of  the  whole  force. 

One  of  the  most  important  offices  of  water  in  the  body,  that  of 
heat  regulator,  is  apt  to  be  overlooked.  It  goes  without  saying 
that  the  blood  is  a  heat  distributor.  If  the  feet  are  plunged  into 
hot  water  the  whole  body  becomes  warm ;  if  the  wrists  are  held 
on  cold  marble  the  whole  body  is  chilled,  because  of  the  rapid  cir- 
culation ;  but  the  consequence  of  the  evaporation  from  the  surface 
of  the  body  of  from  one  to  three  pounds  of  water  daily  is  not  so 
readily  perceived.  There  is  always  insensible  perspiration  or 
evaporation,  and  if  too  much  heat  is  produced,  as  in  rapid  walking 
or  mountain  climbing,  perspiration  is  more  or  less  abundant,  and 
the  rapid  breathing  also  carries  oft"  a  large  amount  of  water,  so 
that  two  pounds  may  be  lost  in  an  hour.  The  evaporation  of  this 
amount  means  the  carrying  away  of  nine  hundred  calories,  or  one- 
fourth  as  much  as  is  furnished  by  a  day's  ration. 

Few  people  realize  the  importance  of  an  even  temperature  in- 
side the  body,  and  many  if  not  most  diseases  are  primarily  caused 
by  the  lowering  of  the  temperature,  which  often  allows  of  changes 
inimical  to  health  and  which  permits  the  attacks  of  various  bac- 
teria to  which  the  body  would  otherwise  be  proof.  The  use  of  the 
chicken  incubator  has  helped  to  emphasize  this  fact,  but  man  is  in 
need  of  the  same  uniformity  of  temperature  all  his  life.  He  is 

51 


reckless  of  himself.  Besides,  if  he  is  to  be  a  cosmopolitan  and 
dwell  in  any  or  all  climates,  he  must  be  able  to  bear  all  changes 
with  impunity.  Therefore,  he  must  have  means  of  keeping  up 
the  requisite  warmth  without  especial  exertion. 

Water,  having  a  greater  capacity  for  heat  than  any  other  sub- 
stance, holds  it,  and  by  its  evaporation  carries  it  off.  Who  does 
not  know  that  a  profuse  perspiration  relieves  fever?  But  who 
stops  to  think  that  the  relief  is  caused  largely  by  the  cooling  due 
to  the  rapid  evaporation  of  the  water  ?  Indeed,  it  is  by  some  con- 
sidered that  the  condition  known  as  fever  is  caused  by  the  inabil- 
ity of  the  body  to  evaporate  sufficient  water.  It  is  evident  that 
the  organisms  which  grow  at  fever  heat  cannot  multiply  as  fast 
when  the  temperature  is  lowered.  Water,  then,  and  plenty  of  it, 
is  necessary  for  life.  There  have  been  instances  of  long  fasting 
successfully  carried  out  if  plenty  of  water  was  supplied. 

To  the  practical  question  of  how  much  water  the  daily  ration 
shall  contain,  and  when  and  in  what  form  it  shall  be  taken,  there 
are  various  answers.  Since  the  human  body  is  about  seventy-five 
per  cent,  water,  and  since  food  is  destined  to  keep  up  this  ratio, 
it  seems  clear  that  the  food  should  have  at  least  this  amount,  and 
that  if  about  two  pounds  of  dry  food  are  taken,  six  pounds  or  three 
quarts  of  water  must  go  with  it,  and  this  is  not  far  from  the  truth. 

As  to  the  form  in  which  it  is  to  be  taken,  it  is  evident  that  it 
depends  on  the  character  of  the  food  eaten.  If  the  meal  consists 
of  fruit,  which  has  eighty  or  ninety  per  cent,  water,  no  more  water 
is  needed.  If  the  meal  is  largely  of  vegetables,  the  same  is  more 
or  less  true.  If  the  cereals,  as  rice,  corn,  and  wheat,  are  eaten  in 
the  form  of  mush,  little  or  no  water  is  needed  in  addition  to  that 
used  in  preparing  the  porridge.  The  same  is  true  of  soups  ;  but 
since  bread  contains  fifty  per  cent,  or  less,  crackers  twenty  per 
cent,  or  less,  cheese  and  eggs  thirty  per  cent.,  it  is  patent  that 
much  more  water  must  be  taken  in  some  form. 

The  time  of  taking  the  water  also  depends  largely  on  the  char- 
acter of  the  food  eaten,  for,  as  we  have  said,  too  concentrated 
solutions  do  not  undergo  the  necessary  chemical  changes  or  pass 

52 


the  membranes,  so  that  there  must  be  enough  water  present  in 
the  circulation.  A  hearty  meal  of  crackers  and  cheese  calls  for 
much  additional  liquid.  The  common  prejudice  against  drinking 
at  meals  seems  to  be  due  to  bad  habits  of  washing  down  the  food, 
mouthful  by  mouthful,  without  proper  mastication.  The  secretion 
of  saliva  is  normally  abundant,  and  if  water  enough  is  already 
present  in  the  body  to  admit  of  the  secretion,  more  will  not  be 
needed  to  moisten  the  food  at  that  stage. 

It  is  generally  acknowledged  by  physicians  that  too  little  fluid 
is  taken  rather  than  too  much,  and  the  great  benefit  derived  from 
treatment  at  mineral  springs  is  often  quite  as  much  due  to  the 
amount  as  to  the  kind  of  water ;  that  is,  so  far  as  the  cure  is  due 
to  water  at  all,  and  not  to  regular  habits,  exercise  in  the  air,  better 
mental  condition,  faith  in  the  cure,  etc. 

Many  diseases  are  directly  due  to  too  great  concentration  of  the 
fluids  of  the  body,  and  are  to  be  counteracted  by  the  imbibition  of 
larger  quantities,  for  a  time  at  least.  To  have  sufficient  water 
present  is  the  rationale  of  water  cures,  especially  that  form  which 
prescribes  the  drinking  of  a  cupful  of  hot  or  cold  water  half  an 
hour  before  meals.  This  not  only  washes  out  the  stomach,  but 
also  furnishes  the  medium  for  the  active  secretions,  ptyalin,  gas- 
tric juice,  etc.,  in  quantity.  On  the  other  hand,  excess  lies  in  the 
path  of  this  as  well  as  other  things,  and  what  is  a  rule  for  one  is 
not  a  rule  for  another.  However,  if  one  finds  that  the  taking  of 
a  pint  of  water  will  relieve  that  sense  of  oppression  and  indiges- 
tion which  sometimes  occurs  an  hour  or  two  after  a  meal,  and  that 
only  favorable  effects  follow,  the  inference  is  that  too  little 
was  taken  with  the  food.  There  is  little  danger  of  taking  too 
much  clear  water.  The  drinking  of  other  liquids  may  be  easily 
overdone.  The  richer  the  food,  the  more  liquid  is  craved,  and  to 
drink  wine  instead  of  water  with  long,  heavy  dinners  is  a  dietetic 
error  for  which  many  men  and  women  pay  with  their  lives.  If 
wine  is  taken,  it  should  be,  as  was  intended  by  the  gourmet,  only 
a  sip  of  the  right  kind  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  full  enjoyment 
of  the  flavor  of  the  next  course. 

58 


The  temperature  of  the  water  to  be  drunk  is  often  a  vexed 
question.  This  may  be  left  to  the  individual,  for  the  quantity 
taken  (one-half  to  one  pint)  at  any  one  time  can  have  but  little 
influence  upon  the  temperature  of  the  fourteen  pints  of  blood 
circulating  rapidly  about  the  seventy  or  more  pounds  of  water 
in  the  tissues  which  are  maintained  at  a  temperature  of  nearly 
one  hundred. 

For  experiment  two  tumblers  of  ice  water  have  been  slowly 
swallowed  and  promptly  siphoned  out,  and  found  to  have  at- 
tained a  temperature  of  ninety-five  degrees  in  five  minutes.  It 
is  true  that  it  is  possible  to  swallow  ice  water  so  rapidly  and  in 
such  quantities  that  the  stomach  receives  a  momentary  chill  and 
disturbance  sets  in,  but  this  is  no  reason  why  all  ice  water  should 
be  forbidden. 

Dr.  Oilman  Thompson  summarizes  the  uses  of  water  in  the 
body  as  follows :  * 

1 .  It  enters  into  the  chemical  combination  of  the  tissues. 

2.  It  forms  the  chief  ingredient  of  all  the  fluids  of  the  body 
and  maintains  their  proper  degree  of  dilution. 

3.  By  moistening  various  surfaces  of  the  body,  such  as  the 
mucous  and  serous  membranes,  it  prevents  friction  and  the  un- 
comfortable symptoms  which   might  result  from  their  drying. 

4.  It  furnishes  in  the  blood  and  lymph  a  fluid  medium   by 
which  food  may  be  taken  to  remote  parts  of  the  body  and  the 
waste  material  removed,  thus  promoting  rapid  tissue  changes. 

5.  It  serves  as  a  distributor  of  body  heat. 

6.  It  regulates  the  body  temperature  by  the  physical  processes 
of  absorption  and  evaporation. 

2.       AIR   AS   A   FOOD. 

Air  is  so  important  to  animal  life  that  breathing  is  not  left  to 
caprice.  The  animal  must  breathe,  not  two  or  three  times  a  day, 
as  it  eats  and  drinks,  but  every  second  or  two,  and  it  cannot  re- 

1  "  Practical  Dietetics,"  p.  31. 
54 


frain  at  will  for  any  length  of  time,  as  it  may  from  eating.  The 
lung  capacity  of  the  human  animal,  in  a  great  measure,  governs 
the  length  of  life  and  the  state  of  health.  How  foolish,  then,  to 
waste  life  by  breathing  bad  air !  No  one  physical  requirement 
can  be  so  readily  increased  as  the  breathing  capacity.  Right 
habits  of  breathing  should  be  formed  in  childhood,  so  that  a  suf- 
ficient supply  of  this  food  may  be  obtainable  without  exertion. 

The  so-called  food-stuffs  need  not  only  water  to  dissolve  them, 
but  oxygen  to  "burn  "  them,  or,  in  scientific  phraseology,  to  ef- 
fect the  chemical  changes  needful  for  their  assimilation.  About 
two  thousand  cubic  feet  of  air  need  to  pass  through  the  lungs 
of  an  adult  daily  in  order  to  furnish  oxygen  in  sufficient  quan- 
tity. If  there  is  lack  in  this  most  important  food-stuff  (and 
nothing  else  can  take  its  place) ,  starvation  as  truly  results  as  if 
other  food  were  withheld,  for  the  changes  required  for  nutrition 
cannot  take  place,  and  furthermore  incomplete  decomposition 
occurs,  which  may  result  in  more  or  less  poisonous  products. 

Fresh  air  —  air  with  its  full  quota  of  oxygen  —  is,  then,  a  prime 
requirement  in  nutrition.  This  air  should  also  be  clean,  free 
from  dust  and  noxious  gases,  but  the  discussion  of  this  factor 
belongs  to  general  sanitation  rather  than  to  the  food  question. 

It  may  be  profitable  to  consider  in  detail  how  the  oxygen  of 
the  air  serves  as  a  food  and  how  much  is  required.  All  force  or 
energy  comes  from  the  sun,  the  wind,  the  water-fall,  and  chemi- 
cal action.  Energy  results  from  the  union  of  oxygen  with  car- 
bon (burning  of  charcoal,  anthracite  coal)  or  with  carbon  and 
hydrogen  (burning  of  wood,  bituminous  coal,  gas,  oil,  etc.),  or 
the  union  of  oxygen  with  other  elements  in  combination  with 
carbon,  hydrogen,  etc.,  as  in  the  burning  of  animal  matter,  etc. 
This  union  is  commonly  called  combustion  and  the  result  is  heat, 
light,  or  electricity,  which  may  be  utilized  in  any  needed  manner 
by  means  of  the  engine  or  the  dynamo. 

Human  force,  energy,  whether  shown  in  walking,  climbing 
mountains,  singing,  talking,  breathing,  or  thinking,  is  produced 
by  this  chemical  union  of  oxygen  with  other  elements,  and  by  no 

55 


other  known  means.  If  this  is  true,  then  it  is  of  the  utmost  im- 
portance that  this  union  shall  be  as  complete  as  possible  if  the 
full  allowance  of  human  energy  is  to  be  reached,  and  since  all 
work  and  thought  are  the  products  of  this  power  or  energy  it  is 
a  question  of  economics  as  well  as  of  health  to  determine  how 
much  work  it  is  possible  to  obtain  from  the  human  machine. 
Outside  the  human  body  1  gram  of  fat  requires  about  3.4  grams 
of  oxygen  to  complete  the  chemical  change ;  1  gram  of  starch 
requires  about  2.7  grams  of  oxygen ;  1  gram  of  white  of  egg 
probably  requires  at  least  1.5  grams  of  oxygen. 

A  day's  ration  for  an  adult  is  commonly  considered  as  about  — 

Grams  of  fat,  125  ;  grams  oxygen    .         .         .         . 

"      starch,  450;  "  

"     albumen  or  its  equivalent,  125  ;  grams  oxygen    . 

Total  grams  oxygen 1,827 

We  have  no  reason  to  suppose  that  any  less  oxygen  is  required 
to  complete  these  changes  within  the  body.  On  the  contrary,  all 
the  evidence  we  have  goes  to  show  that  just  as  much  is  needed. 
The  air  is  the  chief  source  of  this  oxygen.  A  certain  amount  is 
in  combination  with  the  food  materials,  but  that  has  in  most  cases 
already  given  up  all  the  energy  of  which  it  is  capable,  so  that  we 
may  reject  this  small  amount. 

The  weight  of  oxygen  above  given  is  that  contained  in  6,000 
liters  of  air,  or  in  228  cubic  feet,  but  as  it  is  found  that  of 
the  twenty-one  per  cent,  of  oxygen  in  the  air  only  two  or  three 
per  cent,  is  abstracted  by  the  lungs,  while  a  given  volume  of  air 
remains  in  them,  this  quantity  must  be  increased  to  about  2,000 
cubic  feet  in  the  twenty-four  hours.  This  is  probably  below 
rather  than  above  the  required  amount. 

If  the  air,  instead  of  containing  its  normal  amount  of  twenty- 
one  per  cent.,  contains  only  nineteen  per  cent.,  not  even  three 
per  cent,  is  abstracted,  and  the  number  of  respirations  is  in- 

f>6 


creased  in  the  effort  to  make  up  for  the  lessened  amount.  This 
involves  increased  work  on  the  part  of  the  muscles,  and  this 
again  demands  more  oxygen,  until  the  system  ceases  to  struggle 
and  lapses  into  torpidity.  It  is  therefore  of  the  utmost  impor- 
tance to  the  human  body  to  have  sufficient  food  of  this  kind,  and 
especially  to  the  bodies  of  growing  children,  and  most  especially 
to  students,  since  in  repose  the  respirations  are  not  so  deep  nor  so 
rapid  as  in  the  case  of  bodily  activity.  It  is  also  evident  why 
exercise  in  the  open  air  is  an  appetizer,  and  why  it  stirs  up  the 
fire,  as  it  were. 

Some  experiments  most  carefully  made  indicate  that  nearly 
twice  as  much  oxygen  is  taken  into  the  tissues  during  the  night 
as  during  the  day,  and  therefore  the  food-stuff  is  used  up  in 
greater  amount  while  we  sleep,  provided  there  is  a  current  of 
air  passing  through  the  sleeping-room. 

From  observation  and  experiment  the  author  believes  that 
much  of  the  headache  and  lack  of  appetite,  especially  in  women 
and  children,  is  due  to  insufficient  ventilation  in  sleeping-rooms. 
Many  an  otherwise  careful  mother  starves  her  children  in  this 
most  important  particular. 


57 


THE    KUMFORD    KITCHEN    LEAFLETS. 

No.   7. 


SOME  POINTS  IN  THE  CHEMISTRY  OF  PROTEIDS. 

Written  for  the  Rumford  Kitchen  by  JOHN  J.  ABEL. 

THE  proteids  and  substances  so  closely  allied  as  to  be  classed 
with  them  are,  next  to  water,  the  chief  constituents  by  weight  of 
the  human  body.  Roughly  speaking,  the  human  body  is  sixty- 
five  per  cent,  water,  fifteen  per  cent,  proteids  and  proteid-like 
bodies,  while  the  remaining  twenty  per  cent,  is  iriade  up  mainly 
of  fat,  a  few  per  cent,  of  mineral  constituents,  and  smaller  quan- 
tities of  other  substances,  such  as  the  carbohydrates  and  extrac- 
tives. When  separated  by  chemical  means  from  the  salts,  fats, 
and  other  substances  with  which  they  are  closely  bound  up  in 
living  tissue,  the  proteids  are  seen  to  be  non-crystalline  in  form, 
and  easily  affected  by  heat  and  chemical  agents.  In  the  body  it- 
self they  must  be  thought  of  as  existing  either  in  a  kind  of  solu- 
tion in  its  fluids,  as  for  example  in  blood,  or  in  a  more  viscous 
condition  in  its  tissues  of  firmer  structure,  but  as  soon  as  life  is 
extinct  many  of  them  take  on  the  more  solid  or  coagulated  form. 

Many  varieties  of  proteids  are  to  be  found  in  the  various  tissues. 
Thus,  from  the  muscles  may  be  isolated  myosin  and  muscle-albu- 
men; from  the  blood,  serum-albumen,  fibrinogen,  paraglobulin,  and 
haemoglobin  ;  from  the  brain,  neurokeratin  and  nuclein  ;  from  con- 
nective tissue  and  bone,  collagen  or  gelatine-giving  material ; 

COPYRIGHT,  1893,  BY  ELLEN  H.  RICHARDS. 

58 


from  the  network  of  glandular  structures,  elastine  and  reticulin ; 
from  the  hair  and  skin,  keratin ;  and  from  the  milk,  casein. 

These  proteids  and  proteid-like  bodies  are  all  ultimately  derived 
from  the  proteids  built  up  by  plants  out  of  very  simple  inorganic 
constituents.  The  animal  organism  has  the  power  of  splitting  up 
proteids  that  have  been  consumed  as  food,  and  of  modifying  them 
in  many  ways,  so  that  varieties  very  different  from  those  originally 
digested  are  deposited  in  the  tissues  ;  but  it  can  not,  like  the  plant, 
build  up  proteid  anew  out  of,  we  might  almost  say,  the  chemical 
elements  themselves.  The  animal  body,  then,  takes  its  proteid 
either  in  the  form  of  plant  proteid  or  plant  proteid  previously 
transformed  into  animal  proteid.  Plant  and  animal  proteids, 
though  closely  related,  are  by  no  means  identical. 

Only  a  few  chemical  elements  enter  into  the  composition  of 
proteids.  All  contain  carbon,  hydrogen,  oxygen,  and  nitrogen, 
and  most  of  them  also  sulphur ;  several  contain  phosphorus  in 
addition,  and  a  few,  iron  or  copper.  Their  general  percentage 
composition  varies  within  the  following  limits  : 

Carbon 50.0  —  55.0  % 

Hydrogen 6.8—    7.3% 

Nitrogen 15.4  —  18.2% 

Sulphur 0.4—    5.0%. 

(Phosphorus 0.42  —  0.85  %) 

Oxygen 20.8  —  24.1  % 

With  the  help  of  such  analytical  data,  chemists  are  wont  to 
establish  by  calculation  what  is  known  as  the  lowest  empirical 
molecular  formula  of  a  substance,  and  by  taking  into  account 
certain  physical  and  chemical  data  arrived  at  in  other  ways,  this 
empirical  formula  is  changed  into  what  is  called  a  rational  for- 
mula, one  representing  the  molecular  magnitude  and  the  molecular 
structure  of  the  substance  analyzed.  For  proteids,  however,  not 
even  a  definite  empirical  formula  has  been  arrived  at  in  spite  of 
the  innumerable  ultimate  analyses  that  have  been  made  of  various 
proteids,  and  the  chief  reasons  for  this  are  the  difficulty  of  de- 

59 


termining  the  chemical  individuality  of  a  given  proteid  or  of  its 
compounds,  and  the  uncertainties  introduced  by  minute  analytical 
errors  in  the  case  of  substances  presumably  containing  so  large  a 
number  of  atoms  in  their  molecule.  An  older  formula,  based  on 
the  analysis  of  purified  white  of  egg  that  had  been  treated  with 
strong  caustic  soda,  and  representing  the  lowest  empirical  for- 
mula, is  €72  Hiia  N18  S  O22.  Other  analyses  of  so-called  crystalline 
proteids,  or  more  properly  speaking,  of  loose  compounds  of 
proteids  and  mineral  constituents,  have  led  to  formulae  represent- 
ing very  high  molecular  weights.  Here,  too,  such  difficulties 
present  themselves  that  we  must  confess  that  we  have  no  notion 
whatever  of  the  true  molecular  weight  of  the  proteids,  and  it  goes 
without  saying  that  we  are  equally  in  the  dark  as  to  their  molec- 
ular constitution.  So  many  chemists  of  repute,  however,  are 
working  in  this  field  that  we  may  hope  to  see  in  the  near  future 
light  thrown  on  this  important  question  of  biology. 

In  the  absence  of  chemical  data  of  a  higher  order,  it  has  become 
necessary  in  the  interests  of  medicine,  biology,  and  other  sciences, 
to  classify  these  bodies  in  accordance  with  their  behavior  toward 
heat,  acids,  alkalis,  metallic  compounds,  distilled  water,  dilute 
saline  solutions,  etc.  Thus,  serum-albumen,  one  of  the  chief 
proteids  of  the  blood  and  egg-albumen  are  classed  together,  for 
they  are  both  soluble  in  distilled  water  and  in  dilute  solutions  of 
common  salt,  and  both  coagulate  on  being  heated  to  from  50° — 
80°  C.  A  closely  allied  class  to  which  casein  belongs  are  insolu- 
ble in  distilled  water  and  in  weak  solutions  of  common  salt,  but 
soluble  in  weak  alkaline  solutions  and  not  coagulable  when  their 
pure  alkaline  solutions  are  heated.  Two  other  classes  constitut- 
ing the  albumoses  and  peptones  result  from  the  action  of  the 
digestive  juices  on  the  proteids  of  our  food.  These  are  in  general 
extremely  soluble  in  water  and  behave  very  differently  toward 
precipitating  reagents  from  those  already  named. 

By  the  application  of  such  chemical  tests  the  proteids  proper  are 
classified  into  albumins,  globulins,  nucleo-albumins,  albumin- 
ates,  fibrins,  albumoses,  and  peptones.  In  addition  to  these  there 

60 


are  other  constituents  of  the  body  that  we  have  referred  to  as 
proteid-like  substances,  which,  while  differing  among  themselves 
more  decidedly  than  the  groups  that  we  have  just  named,  yet 
resemble  the  proteids  so  much  that  they  must  be  brought  into 
connection  with  them.  Some  of  these  allied  proteids  contain  a 
non-proteid  residue  like  sugar  in  close  combination  with  them. 
These  are  known  as  mucin,  hsemoglobin,  keratin,  elastin,  reticu- 
lin,  collagen,  gelatin,  etc.,  and  still  other  representatives  are 
found  widely  distributed  in  the  animal  world. 

Not  only  are  the  proteids  that  have  been  absorbed  from  our 
food  variously  modified  within  the  body  and  built  up  into  its  struc- 
ture as  has  already  been  intimated,  but  they  are  also  constantly 
undergoing  destruction  as  part  of  the  material  that  furnishes  the 
various  forms  of  energy  required.  The  final  or  refuse  products 
of  this  destructive  process  are  water,  carbonic  acid,  and  certain 
nitrogenous  substances,  chief  among  which  is  one  called  urea. 
This  substance  is  excreted  by  the  kidneys,  and  in  the  case  of 
adults  about  an  ounce  is  eliminated  every  twenty-four  hours.  But 
a  large  number  of  other  nitrogenous  substances,  all  derived  from 
proteids,  and  all  playing  a  more  or  less  important  rdle  in  the  up- 
ward or  downward  chemical  changes  to  which  proteids  are  sub- 
jected, are  also  met  with  in  the  tissues  and  fluids  of  the  body. 
Some  of  these  other  nitrogenous  substances  are  uric  acid,  xanthin, 
sarkin,  guanin,  adenin,  leucin,  tyrosin,  kreatin,  andtaurin.  Many 
of  these  are-,  furthermore,  of  interest  since  we  take  them  in  con- 
siderable quantities  every  day  with  our  meats,  soups,  etc.,  as 
natural  physiological  stimulants.  Meat  extracts,  such  for  in- 
stance as  Liebig's  extract,  afford  a  most  convenient  source  for 
their  preparation  and  study,  notably  for  kreatin  and  sarkin.  The 
active  principles  of  tea,  coffee,  and  cocoa  are  chemically  inti- 
mately related  to  those  nitrogenous  "  extractives "  of  meat  to 
which  the  name  of  the  xanthin  group  has  been  given. 

The  chemical  steps  involved  in  the  formation  of  these  various 
substances  within  the  body  tissues  are  still  largely  a  matter  of 
mystery.  In  order  to  elucidate  the  manner  in  which  proteids  may 

61 


break  clown  or  may  be  reconverted  in  the  body,  chemists  have 
treated  them  with  strong  acids,  alkalis,  and  other  chemical  agents 
under  various  conditions  such  as  high  temperatures  and  high 
pressure.  The  artificial  decomposition  of  proteids  in  the  lab- 
oratory has  yielded  us  many  of  the  intermediate  products  referred 
to,  and,  taken  into  account  along  with  the  results  of  physiologi- 
cal experimentation,  has  furnished  us  with  at  least  a  rough 
sketch  of  the  chemical  history  of  proteids  from  the  moment  of 
their  entrance  into  the  alimentary  canal  to  the  appearance  of  their 
fragments  lodged  in  the  tissues  or  circulating  in  the  fluids  of  the 
body.  To  attempt  this  sketch  here  would  however  take  us  be- 
yond the  scope  of  this  leaflet. 

G2 


THE    RUMFORD    KITCHEN    LEAFLETS. 

No.    8. 


THE    DIGESTIBILITY    OF    PROTEID    FOODS. 

Written  for  the  Rumford  Kitchen  by  R.  H.  CHITTENDEN. 

IT  is  a  well-known  fact  that  proteid  or  albuminous  foods  are 
absolutely  essential  for  animal  life.  Hence,  no  diet  can  be  con- 
sidered as  complete  without  a  certain  proportion  of  such  food- 
stuffs, of  either  animal  or  vegetable  origin.  Further,  in  order  to 
have  the  various  kinds  of  proteid  food  economically  utilized  by 
the  system,  they  must  be  ingested  in  a  form  readily  digestible,  or 
assimilable  by  the  organism. 

Digestibility,  therefore,  plays  an  important  part  in  determining 
the  relative  dietetic  value  of  the  different  varieties  of  proteid 
foods.  Or,  more  broadly,  it  constitutes  a  very  important  item  in 
ascertaining  the  true  nutritive  value  of  any  food.  If,  of  two 
foods  possessing  a  like  composition,  one  be  more  easily  digesti- 
ble, that  one,  though  containing  no  more  available  nutriment  than 
the  other,  is  in  virtue  of  its  easier  digestibility  more  valuable  as 
a  food-stuff,  and  in  one  sense  more  nutritious,  as  well  as  more 
economical  for  the  system.  The  ease  with  which  #  proteid  food 
can  be  utilized  to  supply  the  needs  of  the  body  depends,  there- 
fore, not  only  upon  its  intrinsic  qualities,  viz.,  whether  it  has  been 
derived  from  the  animal  or  vegetable  kingdom,  and  upon  its 
chemical  and  other  peculiarities,  but  also,  to  a  great  extent,  upon 
the  way  in  which  it  has  been  prepared  for  digestion. 

N  1 1 .  men ARusT 

63 


Proteid  foods  are  rendered  available  for  the  needs  of  the  body 
mainly  through  the  action  of  the  digestive  juices.  These  convert 
the  insoluble  food-stuffs  into  soluble  and  diffusible  products, 
capable  of  being  directly  absorbed  by  the  circulating  blood.  The 
two  juices  having  this  functional  power  are  the  gastric  and  pan- 
creatic fluids,  the  former  performing  its  work  in  the  stomach,  and 
the  latter  in  the  small  intestine.  Both  accomplish  essentially  the 
same  object  in  a  somewhat  different  manner,  viz.,  the  conversion 
of  the  insoluble  proteids  into  soluble  albumoses  or  proteoses,  and 
peptone,  which  are  taken  up  from  the  alimentary  tract  by  the 
blood  and  distributed  to  all  parts  of  the  body,  where  they  may  be 
utilized  according  to  their  several  functions  in  nutrition.  It  is 
thus  easily  conceivable  that  while  one  class  of  proteid  food-stufts 
may  be  somewhat  resistant  to  the  digestive  action  of  the  acid 
gastric  juice,  it  may  be  more  readily  attacked  by  the  alkaline 
pancreatic  juice ;  or  the  reverse  may  be  true.  In  any  event,  the 
full  utilization  of  the  ingested  food-stuff  by  the  system  depends  in 
great  part  upon  the  completeness  of  its  digestion  by  these  two 
digestive  fluids. 

As  a  general  rule,  the  proteids  of  animal  origin,  as  of  beef, 
mutton,  eggs,  etc.,  are  more  easily  digestible  than  those  derived 
from  the  vegetable  kingdom.  This  is  partially  due  to  the  nature 
of  th.3  animal  proteids  ;  but  another  factor  of  even  greater  moment 
is  the  large  admixture  of  extraneous  matters  ordinarily  associated 
with  vegetable  proteids.  Thus  oatmeal,  wheat-flour,  potatoes, 
etc.,  contain  a  comparatively  small  amount  of  proteid  matter, 
admixed  with  a  large  bulk  of  starchy  material  and  some  cellulose. 
Hence,  in  a  purely  vegetarian  diet,  a  large  bulk  must  be  consumed 
in  order  to  obtain  even  the  minimum  amount  of  proteid  food  re- 
quired. In  other  words,  the  nitrogenous  or  proteid  matter  is  so 
diluted  by  large  masses  of  cellulose  and  starch  that  an  excess 
of  work  is  thrown  upon  the  alimentary  organs,  which  not  only 
causes  discomfort,  but  is  a  physiological  loss,  entailing  the  work- 
ing over  by  the  system  of  large  quantities  of  material,  in  order 
that  the  required  amount  of  proteid  matter  may  be  obtained.  By 


this  it  must  not  be  understood  that  vegetable  food  is  undesirable, 
for  such  is  certainly  not  the  case.  Starchy  foods  are  particularly 
valuable,  and  a  necessary  part  of  a  normal  diet,  the  cereals  espe- 
cially when  properly  prepared  being  very  completely  digested  and 
absorbed ;  but  it  is  physiologically  injudicious  to  depend  entirely 
upon  vegetable  food  for  the  necessary  proteid  matter.  The  latter 
is  far  more  economically  (from  a  physiological  standpoint)  ob- 
tained from  animal  foods,  where  it  exists  not  only  in  a  much 
more  concentrated  form,  and  as  a  consequence  is  more  readily 
digestible,  but  the  proteid  matter  itself  is  more  quickly  and  com- 
pletely assimilated  than  the  vegetable  proteid,  even  under  equally 
favorable  circumstances. 

Jt  is  a  well  understood  fact,  however,  that  the  digestibility  and 
best  utilization  of  food  depends  greatly  upon  a  reasonable  varia- 
tion in  the  character  of  the  dietary.  Too  great  sameness,  es- 
pecially if  long  continued  in,  may  even  lead  to  an  actual  impair- 
ment of  the  digestive  organs.  Hence,  the  instinctive  desire  com- 
mon to  mankind  in  general  for  variety  in  the  daily  diet  rests 
upon  physiological  grounds  well  worthy  of  recognition. 

One  of  the  most  important  conditions  modifying  the  digestibility 
of  animal  proteid  foods  is  the  ma.iner  in  which  the  muscle  fibres 
are  bound  together,  determining,  as  it  does,  the  extent  of  their 
mechanical  subdivision  on  reaching  the  stomach.  Thus  in  the 
various  kinds  of  meat,  the  short  and  delicately  fibred  muscles  are 
obviously  more  readily  digestible  than  the  longer  and  tougher 
fibres,  which  plainly  offer  greater  resistance  to  disintegration.  It 
is  on  this  account  that  the  breast  of  a  young  chicken,  for  example, 
is  so  easily  digestible,  the  short  tender  fibres  easily  breaking  apart 
and  thus  exposing  more  surface  to  the  action  of  the  digestive 
fluids.  For  a  similar  reason,  the  short  flaky  muscles  of  the  more 
digestible  varieties  of  fish  are  easily  assimilated.  Further,  the 
presence  or  absence  of  fat  exercises  a  marked  modifying  influence 
upon  digestibility,  —  as  a  general  rule  it  may  be  said  that  lean 
meat  is  more  readily  digested,  in  the  stomach  at  least,  than  fat 
meat,  although  the  nature  of  the  fat  present,  and  the  manner  of  its 

65 


distribution  are  important  factors.  Thus,  the  presence  of  a  hard 
or  difficultly  fusible  fat,  as  in  mutton,  tends  to  retard  the  diges- 
tion of  the  proteid  constituents  of  the  meat  more  than  the  pres- 
ence of  a  softer  or  more  readily  fusible  fat,  such  as  is  found  in 
beef.  Again,  the  intimate  mingling  of  fat  with  the  individual 
muscle-fibres,  as  in  the  tissues  of  the  eel  and  lobster,  tends  (o 
check  the  rate  of  digestibility.  The  same  effect  is  seen  in  certain 
kinds  of  fish  flesh;  thus,  in  the  shad,  the  white  meat,  with  id 
greater  freedom  from  incorporated  fat,  is  nearly  ten  per  cent- 
more  digestible  than  the  dark  and  fatter  meat  of  the  same  fish. 

More  important  from  a  dietetic  standpoint  is  the  effect  of  cook- 
ing or  preparation  of  proteid  foods  on  their  digestibility,  and  in 
this  connection  it  must  be  remembered  that  digestion  in  the  broad 
sense  of  the  word  is  a  complex  process,  dependent  upon  the  har- 
monious working  of  several  closely  allied  processes.  By  way  of 
illustration  it  may  be  mentioned  that  a  given  food-stuff  may  owe 
its  lack  of  digestibility  either  to  an  inherent  resistance  to  the  sol- 
vent action  of  the  digestive  juices,  or  more  indirectly  to  the  fact 
that  its  ingestion  fails  to  cause  the  requisite  flow  of  the  necessary 
digestive  secretion.  Now,  one  of  the  effects  of  cooking  is  to  im- 
prove, or  rather  to  develop,  an  agreeable  flavor  in  the  food,  thus 
increasing  its  palatability  and  causing  a  pleasurable  stimulation  of 
the  sense  of  taste.  This  at  the  same  time  leads  to  a  greater  out- 
pouring of  the  needed  digestive  juices,  thus  furnishing  the  means 
for  more  rapid  and  complete  digestion.  Further,  the  very  in- 
crease in  palatability  incidental  to  proper  and  intelligent  cooking 
leads  to  a  more  thorough  mastication  of  the  proteid  food,  while  at 
the  same  time  the  cooking  tends  to  facilitate  its  separation  and 
mechanical  subdivision.  This  latter,  as  already  stated,  greatly 
aids  the  digestive  process  by  enabling  the  different  digestive 
secretions  to  come  into  more  intimate  contact  with  the  individual 
particles.  This  tendency  towards  disintegration  and  general 
softening  incidental  to  cooking  is  due  mainly  to  the  complete  or 
partial  hydration  of  the  connective  tissue-fibres  by  which  the 

66 


muscle  tissue  is  held  together,  into  gelatin,  which  is  far  more 
readily  digestible  and  assimilable  than  the  collagen  itself. 

In  all  methods  of  cooking  meats,  as  indeed  all  forms  of  proteid 
food,  whether  by  boiling,  roasting,  or  broiling,  the  proteid  or  al- 
buminous matter  undergoes  more  or  less  complete  coagulation. 
This,  however,  is  essential  in  any  process  of  cooking  by  which  a 
rich  and  appetizing  flavor  is  to  be  developed,  and  if  not  accom- 
plished at  too  high  a  temperature  offers  no  obstacle  to  easy  diges- 
tibility ;  indeed,  as  has  already  been  stated,  owing  to  the  con- 
version of  the  collagen  of  the  surrounding  connective  tissue  into 
gelatin,  digestibility  may  be  even  increased.  At  the  same  time, 
it  is  well  to  remember  that  raw  beef,  for  example,  if  very  finely 
divided  by  chopping,  is  somewhat  more  easily  dissolved  by  the 
gastric  juice  than  when  coagulated  by  cooking.  All  things  con- 
sidered, however,  proper  cooking  unquestionably  tends  to  in- 
crease the  general  digestibility  of  proteid  foods.  At  the  same 
time  it  alters  the  consistency  and  constitution  of  the  food- stuff, 
giving  to  it  an  odor  and  taste  which  would  otherwise  be  wholly 
lacking,  and,  no  less  important,  causes  the  destruction  of  disease 
germs  or  other  related  organisms  possibly  present. 

The  many  methods  of  preparing  proteid  foods  for  consumption 
need  hardly  be  considered  here ;  they  have  little  bearing  on  the 
direct  digestibility  of  the  various  food-stuffs,  except  so  far  as  they 
modify  the  degree  of  coagulation  of  the  proteid  matter,  the  me- 
chanical subdivision  of  the  tissue,  and  the  removal  or  addition  of 
admixed  fat.  More  important,  however,  is  the  indirect  effect  on 
digestibility  incidental  to  the  degree  of  palatability  produced,  with 
the  corresponding  degree  of  stimulation  of  the  secretory  processes 
by  which  digestion  is  so  greatly  augmented. 

Palatability  and  digestibility  go  hand  in  hand,  and  the  intelli- 
gent preparation  of  a  so-called  cheap  or  tough  piece  of  meat,  for 
example,  may  result  in  as  digestible  and  nutritive  a  product  as 
the  more  careless  preparation  of  a  piece  of  tenderloin. 


67 


THE    RUMFORD    KITCHEN    LEAFLETS. 

No.  9. 


PROTEID  OR  ALBUMINOUS  FOOD  IN  OUR  DAILY  FARE. 

Written  for  the  Rumford  Kitchen  by  MAUY  HINMAN  ABEL. 

How  strange  seems  the  fact,  when  we  first  learn  it,  that  a  Roman 
feast  and  a  Lenten  fast,  a  Delmonico  dinner  and  the  lunch  of  a 
wayside  beggar,  all  contain  the  same  few  simple  elements  of  nutri- 
tion !  The  French  chef  may  mix  and  flavor  as  he  will,  yet  his  dish 
contains  besides  flavoring  matters,  water,  and  certain  salts,  only 
proteids,  fat,  and  carbohydrates,  —  the  same  elements  that  are 
found  in  the  wayside  lunch,  — and  it  is  only  as  proteids,  fat,  and 
carbohydrates  that  the  human  body  can  use  food,  whether  that 
body  be  that  of  prince  or  peasant.  So  this  is  nature^  democracy, 
food  is  food,  for  a'  the  wit  of  cooks!  This  is  not  saying  that  the 
cooks  are  of  no  account,  only  there  is  a  greater  cook,  the  sun,  to 
whose  work  we  owe  the  foundation  of  all.  With  wonderful  skill 
he  makes  these  few  simple  principles  to  appear  with  varied  forms 
and  flavors.  The  common  man  gives  thanks  for  a  hundred  cereals 
and  fruits,  but  the  starch  of  the  potato  and  the  starch  of  the  rice 
is  essentially  one  and  the  same,  and  the  chemist  finds  no  difference 
between  the  sugar  of  the  pear  and  that  of  the  peach. 

To  the  unlearned  man  every  food  stands  by  itself  and  is  only  to 
be  judged  by  its  taste ;  but  science  has  reduced  this  seeming  com- 
plexity to  order,  and  opened  our  eyes  to  see  that  the  "kindly  fruits 
of  the  earth  "  have  differing  values  for  us,  —  we  have  learned  to 
look  behind  the  husk  of  the  wheat  and  the  rind  of  the  orange. 

So  much  the  chemist  has  done  for  us,  and  we  turn  now  to  the 

68 


physiologist  to  learn  what  use  the  human  body  makes  of  these 
aliments. 

As  to  the  proteids,  it  is  known  that  they  serve  various  purposes 
in  the  body — in  small  amounts  in  the  repair  of  the  tissues,  and 
to  a  far  larger  degree  in  the  performance  of  the  various  func- 
tions, much  as  do  the  fats  and  carbohydrates. 

Let  the  scientist  examine  for  us  the  muscles  of  a  man.  Three- 
fourths  will  be  found  to  be  water,  and  of  the  dried  residue  more 
than  two-thirds  is  made  up  of  the  substances  classed  with  the  pro- 
teids. Now,  since  there  is  daily  waste  going  on  in  all  the  body 
structures,  the  original  amount  of  proteid  must  be  kept  up  in  some 
way  if  the  individual  is  to  retain  health  and  working  power,  and 
this  state  of  balance  between  the  income  and  the  expenditure  is 
called  by  the  scientists,  "nitrogenous  equilibrium.'" 

The  importance  of  keeping  this  part  of  the  expense  account 
square  is  evident.  As  the  albuminous  part  of  our  muscles  and  of 
the  glandular  and  other  structures  wastes  away  it  must  be  rebuilt 
out  of  the  proteid  in  our  food  ;  nothing  else  can  be  substituted. 

The  question  next  arises :  How  rapid  is  the  waste  in  the  albu- 
minous tissues  of  the  body,  and  how  much  proteid  food  is  needed 
daily  to  replace  it  ?  The  great  chemist  Liebig  held  that  when  a 
man  worked,  his  muscles  and  other  albuminous  tissues  were  con- 
sumed, that  they  were  the  fuel  rather  than  the  engine.  But  this 
view  is  no  longer  held  by  most  scientists ;  it  is  thought  rather  that 
the  albuminous  tissues  rust  away  but  slowly,  and  that  the  real 
activity  is  in  the  combustion  going  on  throughout  the  engine, 
where  the  fat  and  the  starchy  foods  form  the  true  fuel.  This 
view  would  call  for  much  less  proteid  food  for  the  repair  of  the 
machinery,  only  sixteen  grams  a  day  being  the  estimated  need  for 
this  tissue  building,  while  Voit's  standard  dietary  requires  for  a 
grown  man  at  moderate  hard  work  118  grams  of  water- free 
proteid.  This,  together  with  56  grams  of  fat,  and  500  grams  of 
carbohydrate,  was  found  in  many  instances  to  be  sufficient  to  keep 
a  workingman  of  average  weight  in  good  bodily  condition,  thus 
showing  that  the  tissue  waste  was  made  good,  and  that  the  other 

69 


proteid  needs  of  the  body  had  been  met.  This  so-called  standard 
dietary  is  meant  only  as  a  broad  average,  but  it  gives  a  fairly 
good  basis  of  calculation  for  those  who  must  furnish  food  for 
families  and  institutions.  This  amount  of  proteid  is  now  held  by 
scientists  to  be  greater  than  absolutely  necessary.  A  woman,  also 
of  average  weight,  requires  about  |  less.  For  American  needs 
the  proteid  requirement  for  a  man  at  work  is  placed  by  Professor 
Atwater  at  125  grams,1  an  amount  to  be  found  in  about  \h  pounds 
of  butcher's  meat,  lean  and  without  bone,  or  in  1  pound  of  cheese, 
or  in  24  eggs.  One  and  one-eighth  pounds  of  dried  peas  or  beans 
would  also  furnish  it,  or  about  2|  pounds  of  best  white  flour,  rep- 
resented by  4  pounds  of  home-made  bread.  That  is,  if  the  work- 
man in  question  could  eat  the  required  amount  of  any  one  of 
these  foods  his  proteid  need  would  be  satisfied,  and  his  system 
would  be  kept  in  that  condition  called  "  nitrogenous  equilibrium  ; " 
but  since  he  must  have  a  mixed  diet,  and  draw  his  proteid  food 
from  different  sources,  we  come  to  the  next  question :  Are  all  of 
these  proteids  alike  in  composition,  and  put  to  the  same  use  in  the 
body  ?  May  we  feed  on  meat  or  wheat,  according  as  purse  and 
taste  may  dictate  ? 

The  different  animal  and  vegetable  proteids  —  the  white  of  egg, 
the  fibrin  of  blood,  the  casein  of  milk,  the  legumin  of  peas  and 
beans,  and  the  gluten  of  grains  —  are,  according  to  the  analyst, 
almost  identical  in  the  percentage  of  the  elements  composing 
them;  but  they  have  chemical  differences  nevertheless,  and 
whether  the  system  can  make  equal  use  of  them  is  yet  under  dis- 
cussion. It  is  certain  that  meat  albumen,  for  instance,  is  more 
easily  and  completely  digested  than  vegetable  albumens,  as  they 
are  ordinarily  prepared ;  it  is  also  associated  with  agreeable  and 
stimulating  flavoring  matters  that  doubtless  increase  the  flow  of 
the  digestive  juices,  so  that  whatever  be  the  reason,  meat  is  a 
very  welcome  addition  to  the  food  of  most  people,  and  contributes 
to  the  sense  of  physical  well-being.  In  armies  and  navies  the 

1 125  grams  =  4.4  ounces. 
70 


world  over,  the  meat  and  fat  ration  is  increased  in  time  of  siege, 
attack,  or  other  occasion  for  extra  exertion  and  with  the  best  effect 
on  courage  as  well  as  on  endurance. 

Liebig  puts  it  thus:  "It  is  certain  that  three  men,  one  of 
whom  has  had  a  full  meal  of  beef  and  bread,  the  second  of  cheese, 
and  the  third  of  potatoes,  regard  a  difficulty  from  entirely  differ- 
ent points  of  view." 

But  meat-eating  in  excess  has  its  darker  side  as  physicans  assure 
us,  and  everything  seems  to  favor  the  mixed  diet,  much  as  it  is 
chosen  by  the  majority  of  healthy  people.  A  great  number  of 
statistics  gathered  in  European  cities  went  to  show  that  on  the 
average  one-third  of  the  daily  proteid  was  drawn  from  animal 
sources.  One-third  of  the  125  grams  that  has  been  chosen  as  our 
daily  proteid  need,  or  41  grams,  would  be  represented  by  £  pound 
of  meat  without  bone,  or,  better  chosen,  \  pound  of  meat,  1  pint 
of  milk  and  two  eggs.  This  would  certainly  be  considered  in  our 
country  a  low  average  for  animal  food ;  the  mechanic  eats  much 
more  meat  than  this  dietary  would  allow,  and  in  most  families  of 
well-to-do  people  it  is  more  nearly  two-thirds  of  the  daily  proteid 
that  is  drawn  from  animal  sources. 

It  is  rash  to  dogmatize  on  these  points.  Climate,  occupation, 
and  individual  requirements  must  be  taken  into  account;  but  it  is 
of  use  to  know  that  great  numbers  of  people  live  and  thrive  on 
this  smaller  proportion  of  animal  food  and  that  the  average  army 
diet  in  Europe  contains  even  less. 

It  would  seem  to  be  in  the  line  of  intelligent  economy  for  our 
people  to  learn  to  take  a  larger  part  of  their  proteid  food  from 
vegetable  sources  than  they  now  do,  but  such  a  change  will  re- 
quire not  only  more  intelligent  choice  among  vegetable  foods,  but 
also  better  methods  of  cooking  them. 

Proteid  food  seems  to  be  among  nature's  costliest  products. 
The  grains  yield  a  much  smaller  percentage  of  proteid  material 
than  of  starch,  and  often,  as  in  the  case  of  wheat,  it  is  so  closely 
adherent  to  the  husk  as  to  be  separated  with  great  difficulty,  thus 
offering  to  the  miller  a  problem  that  has  taxed  all  his  invention. 

71 


In  the  same  way  the  richer  yield  of  proteid  found  in  the  ripened 
pea  and  bean  exists  in  connection  with  a  tough  cellulose  that  is 
about  as  digestible  as  wood  shavings.  Most  other  vegetable 
growths,  such  as  fruits  and  garden  vegetables,  contain  only  small 
portions  of  this  food. 

Animal  tissue,  to  be  sure,  is  rich  in  proteid  material ;  but  animal 
food  must  always  be  costly.  Therefore,  considering  our  absolute 
need  of  this  food,  and  that  it  is  less  easily  obtained  than  the  other 
elements,  it  is  plain  that  the  poor  man's  proteid,  how  much  he 
needs,  where  he  shall  get  it,  and  how  it  shall  be  cooked,  is  rightly 
a  question  of  much  importance  to  scientist  and  philanthropist. 


72 


THE    RUMFORD    KITCHEN    LEAFLETS. 

.  10. 


THE  CHEMISTRY  OF  THE  FATS  AND  CARBOHYDRATES. 

Written  for  the  Rumford  Kitchen  by  IRA  REMSEN. 

THE  physiologist  tells  us  that  the  food  of  man  consists  of  pro- 
teicls,  carbohydrates,  fats,  salts,  and  water.  To  the  chemist  these 
names  convey  clear  ideas,  but  for  those  who  are  not  learned  in 
chemical  matters,  they  need  explanation.  In  this  short  article  an 
attempt  will  be  made  to  explain  what  is  meant  by  fats  and  carbo- 
hydrates. The  former  term  is  familiar,  and  yet  it  is  not  easy  to 
define  it.  In  one  important  chemical  book  occurs  this  definition  : 
"  Fats  are  neutral  substances  of  animal  or  vegetable  origin  which 
leave  upon  paper  a  transparent  spot  which  does  not  disappear  on 
long  exposure  to  the  air.1'  Plainly  that  does  not  help  us  much. 
The  chemist  says  a  fat  is  a  substance  which  can  be  decomposed 
into  an  acid,  and  a  substance  belonging  to  the  class  known  as 
alcohols ;  but  not  all  substances  of  which  this  statement  is  true 
are  fats.  The  fact  is  that  the  name  « '  fat "  was  used  long  before  the 
nature  of  fats  was  determined,  and  it  was  applied  at  first  only  to 
the  common  animal  fats  with  which  every  one  is  familiar ;  later  it 
was  applied  to  other  natural  substances  of  similar  properties, 
whether  of  animal  or  vegetable  origin  ;  and  at  present  the  group 
of  fats  includes  a  large  number  of  substances,  all  of  which  can 
easily  be  recognized  as  similar  to  the  ordinary  animal  fats.  The 
principal  fats  are  beef-suet,  mutton-suet,  hog's-lard,  butter,  fish- 
oil,  palm-oil,  cottonseed-oil,  and  olive-oil.  While  these  sub- 

COI-YBIUUT,  1893,  JSY  ELLEN  H.  RICHABDS. 

73 


stances  differ  markedly  from  one  another  in  many  respects,  they 
have  some  properties  in  common,  and  in  ordinary  language  we 
should  say  that  they  are  all  greasy,  and  no  definition  can  give  a 
clearer  idea  of  a  fat  than  that.  We  may  define  light  as  "an  effect 
produced  upon  the  retina  by  vibrations  in  the  luminiferous  ether," 
but  the  result  of  this  is  simply  to  make  us  yearn  for  the  word 
"  light,"  which  satisfies  our  needs. 

So  much  for  definition  ;  but  what  are  these  fats  ?  Those  men- 
tioned above  are  mixtures  of  various  simpler  substances  well 
known  to  the  chemist,  but  little  heard  of  outside  the  laboratory. 
Thus  beef-suet  consists  of  three  substances,— palmitin,  stearin,  and 
olein  ;  and  mutton-suet  and  hog's-lard  contain  exactly  the  same 
things,  only  in  different  proportions.  Fish-oil  contains  olein  and 
palmitin  with  small  quantities  of  other  substances.  Palm-oil 
contains  principally  palmitin  and  olein.  Cottonseed-oil  contains 
mostly  olein  and  some  palmitin.  Olive-oil  contains  essentially 
the  same  fats  as  cottonseed-oil,  with  small  quantities  of  other 
constituents.  While  the  above  fats,  then,  are  made  up  essentially 
of  the  three  compounds  olein,  palmitin,  and  stearin,  butter,  on  the 
other  hand,  consists  of  at  least  eight  different  fats,  among  which 
are  palmitin  and  stearin.  Of  the  three  common  fats  stearin  melts 
at  the  highest  temperature,  and  olein  is  semi-liquid  at  the  ordinary 
temperature.  The  consistency  of  any  mixed  fat  depends,  there- 
fore, in  general  upon  the  proportions  in  which  the  three  ordinary 
constituents  are  contained  in  it.  That  fat  which  contains  the  larg- 
est proportion  of  stearin  melts  at  the  highest  temperature,  and 
that  which  contains  the  largest  proportion  of  olein  melts  at  the 
lowest  temperature. 

The  answer  to  every  question  suggests  other  questions.  What 
are  palmitin  and  stearin  and  olein?  It  has  long  been  known  that, 
when  a  mixture  of  these  fats  is  treated  with  lye,  soap  is  formed. 
A  careful  study  of  this  process  has  shown  that  another  substance 
is  formed  at  the  same  time.  This  is  glycerin.  These  facts  may  be 
expressed  thus : 

Fat  -{-  lye  =:  soap  -f-  glycerin. 
74 


The  fat  as  such  completely  disappears.  Again,  it  is  known  that 
when  a  fat  is  subjected  to  the  action  of  superheated  steam,  two 
products  are  formed,  viz.,  glycerin  and  an  acid;  as,  for  example, 
stearic  or  palmitic  or  oleic  acid,  or  all  three  together.  This  we 
may  represent  in  the  case  of  palmitin  by  the  following  equations : 

Palmitin  -}-  water  r^:  palmitic  acid  -}-  glycerin. 
In  the  case  of  stearin  the  equation  is  : 

Stearin  -f-  water  —  stearic  acid  -f-  glycerin. 
And,  finally,  in  the  case  of  olein  it  is : 

Olein  -|-  water  =.  oleic  acid  -}-  glycerin. 

Now  practically  all  fats  when  treated  in  this  way  —  that  is, 
by  superheated  steam  —  are  decomposed  into  glycerin  and  some 
acid  or  acids.  To  take  one  of  the  most  complicated  cases,  butter 
yields  glycerin,  and  not  only  palmitic  and  stearic,  but  myristic, 
arachic,  butyric,  caproic,  caprylic,  and  capric  acids.  Chevreul, 
the  French  chemist,  who  recently  died  at  the  age  of  one  hundred 
and  three  years,  was  the  first  one  to  show  the  relations  between 
the  fats  on  the  one  hand,  and  glycerin  and  the  acids  on  the  other. 
He  showed  further,  that  by  starting  with  glycerin  and  the  proper 
acids,  the  fats  can  be  made  artificially.  The  preparation  of  pal- 
mitin, for  example,  is  represented  by  the  following  equation  : 

Palmitic  acid  -|-  glycerin  =;  palmitin  -f-  water ; 

and  similarly  in  the  case  of  the  other  fats.  If  glycerin  and  the 
acids  that  enter  into  the  composition  of  fats  could  in  turn  be 
manufacture  cheaply,  a  fat-factory  might  be  established.  But 
nature  provides  these  substances  infinitely  more  cheaply  than 
they  can  be  manufactured  at  present,  and  the  prospects  of  a 
fat-factory  would  be  most  gloomy  from  the  financial  point  of 
view.  The  artificial  preparation  of  fats  is,  however,  a  perfectly 
feasible  operation,  though  expensive. 

Our  inquiries  may,  of  course,  be  pushed  further.  We  may  now 
ask,  What  is  glycerin,  and  what  are  these  acids  that  enter  into 
the  composition  of  fats  ?  These  questions  can  be  answered,  but, 

75 


for  the  present  purpose,  the  answers  are  not  of  much  importance, 
and  they  need  not,  therefore,  be  given.  It  should,  however,  be 
stated  that  the  acids,  as  well  as  the  glycerin,  consist  of  only  three 
elementary  substances;  viz.,  carbon,  hydrogen,  and  oxygen,  which 
are  held  in  combination  in  different  proportions  and  in  different 
ways. 

Having  shown  thus  in  a  general  way  what  fats  are,  it  onty 
remains  to  point  out,  also  in  a  general  way,  what  properties  they 
possess  in  addition  to  those  already  mentioned.  They  are  not 
volatile,  but  undergo  decomposition  when  heated ;  they  are 
insoluble  in  water,  but  easily  soluble  in  ether,  bisulphide  of  car- 
bon, and  benzine.  When  pure  they  are  colorless  and  inodorous. 
When  strongly  heated  they  yield  a  number  of  products,  among 
which  is  one  called  acrolein.  This  has  a  most  penetrating  odor, 
and  its  vapor  acts  upon  the  eyes  causing  the  secretion  of  tears. 
Those  who  have  been  in  kitchens  during  the  frying  of  meats  have 
no  doubt  noticed  the  effect  of  this  substance  upon  the  eyes.  Con- 
tact with  the  air  causes  fats  to  become  rancid.  The  change  is 
essentially  the  same  as  that  caused  by  superheated  steam  ;  that  is 
to  say,  the  fat  is  partly  decomposed  by  the  moisture  of  the  air  into 
acid  or  acids  and  glycerin.  The  change  is  most  familiar  in  the 
case  of  butter.  Some  of  the  acids  set  free  by  the  decomposition 
of  this  fat  have  markedly  disagreeable  tastes,  which  are  more 
or  less  familiar  to  every  one. 

And  now  the  carbohydrates.  As  this  term  is  generally  used,  it 
designates  a  large  group  of  compounds  found  in  nature.  They 
are  among  the  most  important  constituents  of  plants,  while  a  few 
are  also  found  in  animals.  The  word  "  carbohydrate"  refers  to  the 
fact  that  these  substances  all  contain  carbon  united  with  hydro- 
gen and  oxygen,  which  are  in  the  same  proportion  as  in  water. 
The  carbohydrates  may  be  conveniently  divided  into  three  groups, 
according  to  their  composition.  These  are : 

1.  The  glucose  group.  —  The  principal  members  of  this 
group  are  dextrose  or  grape  sugar,  levulose  or  fruit  sugar,  and 
galactose. 

76 


2.  The  cane-sugar  group.  —  The  principal   members  of  this 
group  are  cane-sugar,  sugar  of  milk,  and  maltose. 

3.  The  cellulose  group.  —  The  principal  members  of  this  group 
are  starch,  cellulose,  gum,  and  dextrin. 

The  glucose  group.  —  All  these  substances  have  the  same  com- 
position, which  is  represented  by  the  chemical  formula  C6  H12  O6. 
The  best-known  member  is  the  one  called  glucose  or  dextrose  or 
grape-sugar.  This  occurs  very  widely  distributed  in  the  vegeta- 
ble kingdom,  particularly  in  sweet  fruits,  in  which  it  is  found  to- 
gether with  an  equal  quantity  of  levulose  or  fruit-sugar.  It  is 
also  found  in  honey,  with  cane-sugar  and  some  levulose.  It 
occurs,  further,  in  blood,  in  the  liver,  and  in  the  urine ;  and  in 
diabetes  the  quantity  contained  in  the  urine  is  largely  increased. 
Glucose  is  easily  formed  from  several  other  carbohydrates  by 
boiling  these  with  dilute  acids  or  by  the  action  of  ferments. 
Thus,  when  cane-sugar  is  treated  with  dilute  acids  or  with  cer- 
tain ferments,  as,  for  example,  ordinary  yeast,  it  is  converted 
into  a  mixture  of  glucose  and  levulose,  the  mixture  being  known 
as  invert-sugar.  The  ferment  acts  further  upon  this  mixture,  re- 
solving each  of  the  sugars  into  alcohol  and  carbon  dioxide  or  car- 
bonic acid.  Starch  and  cellulose  yield  glucose  when  boiled  with 
dilute  acids.  The  formation  from  starch  is  carried  on  in  the  lar^e 

O 

scale  for  the  purpose  of  manufacturing  glucose.  Dilute  sulphuric 
acid  is  generally  used.  The  excess  of  acid  is  afterward  removed 
by  treating  the  solutions  with  chalk,  and  filtering.  The  filtered 
solutions  are  evaporated  down  to  a  syrupy  consistency,  and  sent 
into  the  market  under  the  names  "  glucose,"  "  mixing  syrup," 
etc.,  or  to  dryness,  the  solid  product  being  known  in  commerce 
as  "  grape-sugar."  Glucose  crystallizes  from  concentrated  solu- 
tions, usually  in  crystalline  masses  which  have  much  the  appear- 
ance of  cane-sugar  in  the  granulated  form.  It  is  sweet,  but  not 
as  sweet  as  cane-sugar.  According  to  careful  estimations,  five 
parts  of  glucose  are  required  to  produce  the  same  sweet  taste  as 
is  produced  by  three  parts  of  cane-sugar. 

Glucose  has  recently  been  prepared  by  artificial  methods  in  the 

77 


laboratory,  but  the  process  employed  is  extremely  complicated 
and  expensive. 

Levulose  or  fructose  or  fniil-sugar  are  names  applied  to  the 
other  prominent  member  of  the  glucose  group.  As  has  been 
stated,  it  occurs  in  nature  in  sweet  fruits  together  with  glucose, 
and  it  is  formed  together  with  the  latter  by  boiling  cane-sugar 
with  dilute  acids  and  by  treating  it  with  ferments.  It  is  now  pre- 
pared in  crystallized  form,  and  has  about  the  same  sweetening 
power  as  cane-sugar.  In  diabetes,  cane-sugar  is  an  objectiona- 
ble article  of  diet,  for  the  reason  that,  in  the  body,  it  is  decom- 
posed, yielding  glucose  as  one  of  the  products,  and  the  presence 
of  this  substance  aggravates  the  symptoms  of  the  disease.  At 
present  levulose  is  manufactured  for  use  by  diabetic  patients, 
and  comes  into  the  market  under  the  name  of  diabetin.  Whether 
the  use  of  this  substance  in  diabetes  is  of  advantage  or  not,  is 
perhaps  not  yet  fully  decided  by  the  evidence  available,  though 
it  appears  to  be  of  value. 

The  cam-mgar  group.  —  The  composition  of  the  members  of 
this  group  is  represented  by  the  formula  C12  H22  On.  Cane-sugar, 
the  principal  member,  occurs  very  widely  distributed  in  nature, 
in  sugar-cane,  sorghum,  the  Java  palm,  the  sugar-maple,  beets, 
in  the  blossoms  of  many  plants,  in  honey,  etc. 

It  is  obtained  chiefly  from  the  sugar-cane  and  from  beets, 
beet-sugar  being  identical  with  cane-sugar.  Sugar  crystallizes 
from  water  in  well-formed,  large  monoclinic  prisms,  as  seen  in 
rock  candy.  When  heated  to  about  400°,  sugar  loses  water,  and 
is  converted  into  the  substance  called  caramel,  which  is  more  or 
less  brown  in  color,  according  to  the  duration  of  the  heating  and 
the  temperature  reached.  The  change  which  sugar  undergoes 
when  it  is  treated  with  dilute  acids  and  with  ferments  has  already 
been  described.  Cane-sugar  itself  does  not  undergo  fermenta- 
tion. Though  cane-sugar  readily  breaks  down  into  dextrose  and 
levulose,  no  one  has  as  yet  succeeded  in  causing  these  two  to 
unite  and  form  cane-sugar. 

Sugar  of  milk  or  lactose,  as  the  name  implies,  is  found  in  milk. 

78 


It  occurs,  in  fact,  in  the  milk  of  all  mammals,  and  is  obtained  in 
the  manufacture  of  cheese.  It  crystallizes,  and  has  a  slightly 
sweet  taste.  Its  composition  is  represented  by  the  formula  C2i 
H22  On  -}-  H2  O.  Sugar  of  milk  ferments  under  certain  circum- 
stances, and  is  thus  converted  into  lactic  acid.  This  acid  causes 
the  milk  to  thicken,  by  coagulating  the  casein  contained  in  it. 
The  souring  of  milk  is  a  result  of  this  fermentation. 

The  cellulose  group.  —  Starch  and  cellulose,  each  of  which  has 
the  composition  represented  by  the  formula  C6  HIO  O5,  are  the  two 
substances  most  abundant  in  the  vegetable  kingdom.  Cellulose 
forms  the  groundwork  of  all  vegetable  tissues.  It  presents  dif- 
ferent appearances  and  different  properties,  according  to  the 
source  from  which  it  is  obtained ;  but  these  differences  are  prob- 
ably due  to  substances  with  which  the  cellulose  is  mixed.  The 
coarse  wood  of  trees,  as  well  as  the  tender  shoots  of  the  most 
delicate  plants,  all  contain  cellulose  as  an  essential  constituent. 
It  forms  the  membrane  of  the  cells.  Cotton-wool,  hemp,  and 
flax  consist  almost  wholly  of  cellulose.  Starch  is  found  every- 
where in  the  vegetable  kingdom  in  large  quantity,  particularly 
in  all  kinds  of  grain,  as  maize,  wheat,  etc. ;  in  tubers,  as  the  po- 
tato, arrow-root,  etc. ;  in  fruits,  as  chestnuts,  acorns,  etc.  In  the 
United  States  starch  is  manufactured  mainly  from  maize;  in 
Europe,  from  potatoes. 

Starch  in  its  usual  condition  is  insoluble  in  water.  If  ground 
with  cold  water,  it  is  partly  dissolved.  If  heated  with  water,  the 
membranes  of  the  starch-cells  are  broken,  and  the  contents  form 
a  partial  solution.  On  cooling,  it  forms  a  transparent  jelly  called 
starch  paste.  By  boiling  with  dilute  acid,  starch  is  converted 
into  dextrin,  maltose,  and  glucose. 

In  the  above  brief  sketch,  only  the  principal  carbohydrates 
have  been  presented.  There  are  many  other  compounds  belong- 
ing to  the  group,  but  most  of  these  are  of  subordinate  interest  in 
connection  with  the  subject  of  food. 


THE    RUMFORD    KITCHEN    LEAFLETS. 

No.  11. 


THE    DIGESTION    AND    NUTRITIVE    VALUE    OF    THE 
CARBOHYDRATES. 

Written  for  the  Rumford  Kitchen  by  W.  II.  HOWELL. 

THE  starches  and  sugars  which  we  include  under  the  term  "  car- 
bohydrates "  constitute  a  very  important  element  in  many  of  our 
ordinary  foods,  especially  those  of  vegetable  origin.  The  starches 
are  insoluble,  and  the  object  of  digestion  in  the  long  run  is  to 
convert  them  into  soluble  sugar  so  that  they  may  be  absorbed  into 
the  blood  and  be  utilized  by  the  cells  of  the  body.  The  sugars  of 
our  food,  on  the  contrary,  are  soluble  to  begin  with,  and  in  all 
probability  some  of  them  may  be  absorbed  into  the  blood  directly 
without  undergoing  any  change,  while  others,  ordinary  table 
sugar  (cane  sugar),  for  example,  undergo  a  conversion  before  or 
during  absorption  into  glucose  (grape  sugar) ,  which  is  the  partic- 
ular variety  of  sugar  found  in  the  blood.  It  is  evident  from  this 
preliminary  statement  that  as  far  as  the  starches  and  sugars  are 
concerned  the  more  difficult  task  for  the  digestive  organs  lies  in 
the  transformation  of  the  starches.  The  digestion  of  these  bodies 
begins  in  the  mouth.  By  the  act  of  mastication  they  are  more  or 
less  thoroughly  mixed  with  the  saliva,  and  are  thus  brought  into 
contact  with  a  peculiar  substance  known  as  ptyalin,  which  consti- 
tutes one  of  the  elements  of  the  salivary  secretion.  This  ptyalin 
belongs  to  a  group  of  bodies  to  which  the  general  name  of 

COPYRIGHT,  1893,  BY  ELLEN  H.  RICHARDS. 

80 


unformed  ferments  or  enzymes  has  been  given.  One  or  more  of 
these  substances  are  found  in  eaeh  of  the  digestive  secretions,  and 
each  is  characterized  by  some  peculiar  change  or  reaction  which 
it  causes.  The  distinguishing  property  of  the  ptyalin  is  that  it 
acts  upon  starches  under  certain  conditions  and  converts  them  to 
sugar.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  conversion  to  sugar  is  not  com- 
plete ;  what  actually  takes  place  is  that  the  starch  disappears  and 
in  its  place  are  found  sugar,  a  particular  form  of  sugar  known  as 
maltose,  and  dextrin.  The  change  is  a  simple  one  from  a  chem- 
ical standpoint,  consisting  essentially  in  the  addition  of  water  to 
the  molecules  of  starch,  a  process  known  to  the  chemists  as 
hydration.  In  this  case  the  ptyalin  plays  the  part  of  the  hydrating 
agent,  that  is,  by  its  agency  the  molecules  of  water  are  brought 
into  union  with  the  molecules  of  starch.  The  change  may  be  ex- 
pressed by  an  equation  of  this  kind  : 

3  (C6  H10  05)  -f  H2  O  =  Ci2  H22  On  -I-  C«  Hio  O5f 
starch  water        maltose  dextrin, 

although  the  reaction  which  actually  occurs  is  probably  more 
complicated.  Since  our  food  is  held  in  the  mouth  for  a  few 
moments  only,  it  is  not  probable  that  any  considerable  amount  of 
the  starch  undergoes  this  change ;  much  the  larger  portion  is 
swallowed  without  alteration.  The  swallowed  food  being  more  or 
less  thoroughly  mixed  with  saliva,  the  action  of  the  ptyalin  on  the 
starch  might  therefore  be  continued  and  completed  in  the  stomach 
were  it  not  that  the  secretion  of  the  stomach  (gastric  juice)  is  acid, 
and  it  is  known  that  under  such  conditions  the  activity  of  the 
ptyalin  is  suspended  or  destroyed  altogether.  Whatever  portion 
of  the  starchy  foods  reaches  the  stomach  undigested  suffers  no 
further  alteration  of  a  chemical  nature  from  the  gastric  juice  itself. 
After  a  certain  interval  the  stomach  contents  are  ejected  into  the 
small  intestine.  Here  they  meet  with  the  secretion  of  the  pan- 
creatic gland.  This  secretion,  like  the  saliva,  contains  a  ferment  ca- 
pable of  transforming  starch  to  sugar,  or,  to  be  more  accurate,  to 
sugar  and  dextrin.  What  remains  of  the  starch,  unless  an  exces- 

81 


sive  quantity  or  an  indigestible  variety  has  been  eaten,  undergoes 
this  alteration  during  the  slow  passage  of  the  food  along  the  intes- 
tinal canal.  The  mucous  membrane  lining  the  intestinal  cavity  is 
richly  supplied  with  a  network  of  capillary  blood-vessels,  and  the 
end-products  of  the  pancreatic  digestion  pass  into  the  blood  cir- 
culating through  these  vessels. 

This  act  by  which  the*  products  of  digestion  enter  the  blood- 
stream constitutes  what  is  called  absorption.  In  the  case  of  the 
substances  about  which  we  are  now  talking,  namely,  sugar  and 
dextrin,  absorption  takes  place  directly  into  the  blood  circulating 
in  the  walls  of  the  intestine.  One  of  the  errors  of  statement 
frequently  met  with  in  elementary  text-books  of  Physiology  is  the 
assertion  that  all  absorption  from  the  intestinal  canal  is  accom- 
plished by  means  of  the  lacteals,  or  absorbents,  a  system  of  lymph 
vessels  which  form  a  rich  network  in  the  intestinal  wall,  but 
whose  absorbing  function  seems  to  be  limited  mainly  to  the  fatty 
constitutents  of  the  food. 

It  has  been  shown  that  there  is  present  in  the  mucous  coat  of  the 
intestine  a  ferment  capable  of  transforming  maltose  and  dextrin 
into  glucose  (grape  sugar),  and  it  is  probable  that  while  these 
products  are  being  absorbed,  or  after  absorption  takes  place,  this 
final  change  is  made.  We  are  justified,  therefore,  in  saying  that  the 
starch  of  our  foods  enters  the  blood  in  the  form  of  sugar  (glucose) . 
The  blood,  passing  away  from  the  intestines  and  carryinginit,  after 
each  meal,  a  new  quantity  of  sugar,  is  distributed  to  the  liver  before 
reaching  the  heart.  During  its  passage  through  the  liver  much  of 
the  newly  received  sugar  is  again  abstracted  from  the  blood  and 
stored  up  in  the  liver  cells  in  the  form  of  starch,  glycogen,  or  animal 
starch,  the  process  in  this  case  being  the  reverse  of  what  occurred 
during  digestion,  the  sugar  losing  water  from  its  molecule  and 
passing  back  to  the  form  of  starch.  This  reverse  change  of  dehy- 
dration seems  to  be  connected  with  the  properties  of  the  liver  cells. 

In  a  similar  way  some  of  the  sugar  is  stored  up  as  glycogen  in 
the  muscular  tissue  of  the  body.  It  seems,  therefore,  that  the 
new  quantities  of  sugar  added  to  the  circulation  at  each  meal  are 

82 


not  at  once  consumed  by  the  body,  but  are  iu  part,  at  least,  stored 
up  as  glyeogen.  During  the  intervals  between  meals  or  in  longer 
fasts  this  store  of  glyeogen  is  slowly  given  off  to  the  blood  in 
the  form  of  sugar  (glucose)  in  such  quantities  that  the  proportion 
of  sugar  in  the  blood  remains  always  practically  constant,  about 
1  to  1.5  parts  per  thousand.  The  ultimate  fate  of  this  sugar  is 
that  it  is  taken  into  the  substance  of  the  cells  composing  the  body, 
and  there  undergoes  oxidation  with  the  formation  of  carbon  di- 
oxide gas  and  water,  and  the  liberation  of  energy.  Just  as  sugar 
nmy  be  burnt  outside  of  the  body  with  the  production  of  carbon 
dioxide  and  water,  and  the  liberation  of  heat,  so  it  is  burnt, 
though  more  slowly  and  indirectly,  inside  of  the  body,  with  the 
formation  of  the  same  end-products,  and  the  production  of  heat 
or  some  other  form  of  energy.  The  nutritive  value  of  the  carbo- 
hydrates, therefore,  lies  in  the  fact  that  they  furnish  energy  to  the 
body,  and  this  energy  may  be  manifested  in  the  animal  heat  of 
the  body,  in  the  work  done  by  a  contracting  muscle,  in  the  activi- 
ties of  the  brain,  etc. 

As  energy  producers  the  carbohydrates  are  weight  for  weight 
less  efficient  than  the  proteids  and  much  less  efficient  than  the  fats  ; 
but  this  disadvantage  is  offset,  as  far  as  the  fats  are  concerned, 
by  the  easier  digestibility  of  the  carbohydrates.  In  the  nutrition 
of  the  body  proteids  are  indispensable ;  a  diet  of  carbohydrates 
alone,  or  of  carbohydrates  and  fats,  if  long  continued,  will  result 
in  starvation.  But  if  carbohydrates  and  fats  are  present  in  the 
diet  a  smaller  amount  of  proteid  will  suffice  for  the  needs  of  the 
body,  and  in  a  mixed  diet  of  this  character  it  has  been  shown  that 
the  fats  and  carbohydrates  may  be  interchanged  according  to  a 
definite  ratio  without  altering  the  total  amount  of  available  energy 
contained  in  the  meal.  The  cheapness,  ease  of  digestion,  and 
palatableness  of  the  carbohydrates  make  them  the  most  abundantly 
used  of  the  food-stuffs.  It  should  be  added  that  it  has  now  been 
demonstrated  that  when  used  in  excess  of  the  actual  needs  of  the 
body,  the  carbohydrates  may  be  converted  into  fat  and  stored  up 
in  this  form.  It  has  been  found  impossible  to  change  carbohy- 


d rates  to  fats  in  the  laboratory ,  and  indeed  it  is  difficult  to  suggest 
a  series  of  reactions  such  as  might  take  place  in  the  body  which 
would  lead  to  this  result.  For  this  reason  physiologists  for  many 
years  have  doubted  the  possibility  of  such  a  change  occurring  in 
the  body.  It  was  supposed  that  carbohydrates  are  good  fattening 
foods  because  they  form  a  material  easily  consumed  by  the  body, 
that  is,  easily  burnt  or  oxidized.  In  consequence  of  this  property 
the  proteid  constituents  of  the  food  which  are  oxidized  with  more 
difficulty  were  protected,  the  necessary  energy  of  the  body  being 
obtained  from  the  consumption  of  the  carbohydrates,  while  the  fat 
of  the  well-nourished  animal  came  from  the  proteid  thus  con- 
served. It  is  not  necessary  in  a  short  article  like  this  to  enter 
into  the  details  of  the  experiments  which  have  seemed  to  disprove 
this  view.  It  is  perhaps  sufficient  to  say  that  it  is  now  generally 
believed  that  the  body  has  the  power  either  of  consuming  the  car- 
bohydrates directly,  or  of  building  them  up  into  the  more  complex 
fats.  In  the  latter  case  the  material  is  of  course  saved  in  the 
form  of  adipose  tissue  for  future  use.  It  follows  from  this  that 
in  a  diet  intended  mainly  for  fattening  purposes  there  should  be 
a  large  proportion  of  carbohydrates  in  addition  to  the  necessary 
proteids.  Indeed,  this  fact  has  long  been  known  and  utilized  by 
stock-farmers  in  fattening  cattle.  On  the  other  hand,  a  diet  in- 
tended to  reduce  fat  is  usually  characterized  by  a  small  propor- 
tion of  carbohydrates.  The  value  of  starches  as  foods  depends 
largely  upon  the  condition  in  which  they  are  eaten.  Raw  starch, 
for  example,  is  converted  to  sugar  by  the  salivary  and  pancreatic 
secretions  with  great  difficulty  as  compared  with  the  same  sub- 
stance after  thorough  cooking.  It  follows  from  this  that  if  eaten 
in  an  uncooked  condition  there  is  a  greater  possibility  of  the 
starch  escaping  digestion  and  being  lost  to  the  body.  It  is  not 
the  food  that  is  eaten,  but  the  food  that  is  properly  digested  and 
absorbed,  that  nourishes  the  body.  Cellulose,  also,  the  form  of 
starch  found  in  the  fibrous  and  cellular  tissue  of  vegetables, 
passes,  for  the  most  part,  through  the  alimentary  canal  without 
undergoing  digestion,  and  is  therefore  of  little  nutritive  value. 

84 


THE    EUMFORD    KITCHEN   LEAFLETS. 

No.    12. 


THE    PLACE    OF    FATS    IN    NUTRITION. 

BY  MARY  HINMAN  ABEL. 

IT  is  well  known  that  when  an  individual  has  in  the  diet  a 
sufficient  amount  of  proteid  food,  as  furnished  by  meat,  milk, 
eggs,  and  the  gluten  of  cereals,  the  rest  of  the  required  nutrients 
may  consist  of  fat,  sugar,  and  starch,  in  proportions  that  vary 
widely,  according  to  climate,  occupation,  and  other  circumstances. 

The  adaptability  of  the  human  system  in  this  regard  is  re- 
markable. Thus  we  know  that  people  in  extreme  northern 
latitudes  live  for  long  periods  of  time  entirely  on  meat.  Nan- 
sen  in  his  overland  journey  lived  for  months  on  bear  meat, 
although  on  the  "  Fram"  his  diet  included  bread  and  other  veg- 
etable foods,  with  considerable  sugar.  In  both  cases  he  kept 
health  and  strength. 

We  know  of  no  people,  on  the  other  hand,  who  do  entirely 
without  fat,  although  some,  as  the  poorer  classes  of  China  and 
Japan,  reduce  this  principle  to  a  very  low  figure,  perhaps  one- 
tenth  of  what  is  used  by  the  average  European,  while  they  take 
in  its  place  large  quantities  of  carbohydrate  food,  chiefly  in 
the  form  of  rice. 

Civilized  man  seems  to  use  with  proteid  food  both  fat  and 
starch,  choosing  to  replace  some  of  the  latter  by  sugar  whenever 
it  is  obtainable. 

85 


Food  proportioned  in  this  way,  according  to  personal  choice, 
permits  great  latitude  in  cases  of  robust  health.  The  system 
seems  to  allow  a  sort  of  free  trade  between  fats  and  carbo- 
hydrates, by  which  a  deficiency  of  one  is  balanced  by  excess  in  the 
other,  and  an  average  struck  over  days  and  weeks. 

But  in  special  cases  the  adjustment  of  the  two  requires 
more  care.  For  instance,  the  infant  cannot  get  on  without  both 
fat  and  sugar  in  about  equal  quantities.  Very  little  change  can 
be  made  from  the  proportions  found  in  the  mother's  milk,  and 
according  to  this  recognized  standard  cow's  milk  is  "modified" 
to  imitate  human  milk. 

The  ordinary  individual  in  this  latitude  eats  about  one-fourth  as 
much  fat  as  of  starch  and  sugar  together.  This  amount  may  be 
increased  for  the  outdoor  worker,  or  the  mountain  climber,  while 
the  sedentary  man  or  the  woman  of  leisure  will  do  better  with 
less.  A  pound  of  fat  furnishes  more  than  twice  as  many  heat 
calories  as  a  pound  of  starch  and  is,  therefore,  as  a  condensed 
heat  and  energy  producer,  well  fitted  to  meet  the  needs  of  hard 
workers  and  of  dwellers  in  cold  climates.  It  is  worthy  of 
remark  that  in  Europe  the  army  ration  of  fat  is  always  increased 
for  heavy  marching  or  fighting. 

In  what  forms  shall  fat  be  taken  ?  It  should  be  remembered 
that  all  fats  used  as  food  are  much  alike,  chemically  considered, 
and  when  absorbed  in  the  body  do  the  same  work.  Fats  differ 
chiefly  in  their  flavor  and  the  ease  with  which  they  melt  in  the 
mouth,  both  of  which  circumstances  affect  our  estimate  of  them 
as  foods,  and  without  doubt,  also,  their  availability  in  the  system. 

Cream  is  doubtless  the  most  highly  digestible  form  of  fat,  and 
nothing  can  take  its  place  for  the  young  child.  It  is  needed  in 
the  building  of  the  tissues,  in  keeping  up  body  temperature,  and 
providing  for  the  constant  activity  of  the  young  organism. 
Cream  as  supplied  in  milk  is  most  useful  to  children  of  all  ages  ; 
butter  comes  next  in  value  and  should  be  liberally  supplied,  as 
children  seldom  relish  meat  fat.  Delicate  children  and  anrcmic 
persons  are  often  seen  to  improve  greatly  in  condition  when 

86 


large  amounts  of  palatable  and  digestible  fats  are  introduced 
into  the  diet.  It  is  even  claimed  that  cod  liver  oil  is  to  be  reck- 
oned as  a  food  rather  than  a  medicine,  and  it  sometimes  comes  to 
be  greatly  relished.  Delicately  cooked  bacon  is  often  used  in  its 
place.  Vegetable  oils,  as  found  in  cocoa,  in  olives,  and  in  nuts, 
and  the  highly  important  though  small  proportion  in  grains,  are 
usually  well  digested.  Nuts  should  be  well  chewed  and  taken  in 
connection  with  other  food,  as  bread,  or  ground  and  mixed  with 
fruit  or  cereals,  as  in  many  prepared  foods  now  on  the  market. 
So  eaten,  nuts  should  be  counted  as  a  valuable  food  which  may 
take  the  place  of  some  substantial  dish,  rather  than  as  a  luxury 
to  be  eaten  at  the  close  of  "an  already  full  meal. 

Among  animal  fats  cream  is  doubtless  the  most  digestible 
nnd  ^butter  ranks  next,  and  the  yolk  of  egg  presents  it  in  an 
exceedingly  useful  form.  Freshness  is  a  matter  of  great  impor- 
tance with  all  three.  Cream,  thanks  to  the  patent  separator,  can 
now  be  obtained  as  fresh  as  milk,  and  recently  made  butter  is 
everywhere  obtainable.  If  eggs  are  not  perfectly  fresh  they 
should  not  be  given  to  a  child  or  to  a  person  of  delicate  digestion, 
for  with  every  day  of  age  they  lose  something  of  their  high 
nutritive  value. 

The  fat  of  meat  shows  striking  differences.  Interstitial  fat,  or 
that  which  lurks  between  the  fibres  and  is  not  generally  recog- 
nized as  fat,  is  more  digestible  than  solid  or  lump  fat,  perhaps 
on  account  of  its  minute  subdivision.  Mutton  fat,  on  account  of 
its  high  melting  point,  is  less  well  used  than  is  beef  fat.  Cooking 
has  considerable  effect  on  the  digestibility  of  fats.  By  softening 
the  cellular  structure  which  encloses  the  globules  of  fat  in  the  fat 
of  meat,  it  facilitates  digestion  ;  but  if  a  high  degree  of  heat  be 
applied  and  the  fat  be  scorched,  it  becomes  highly  irritating  to  a 
delicate  stomach. 

This  is  also  true  of  any  liquid  fat  that  is  browned  for  the 
making  of  brown  gravies,  etc. 

The  fat  of  marrow  bones  is  of  fine  flavor  and  digestible,  and 
might  be  more  used  than  it  is. 

87 


It  should  be  noted  that  the  question  of  fat  in  the  diet  does 
not  take  care  of  itself,  especially  with  the  poor.  The  well-fed 
man  takes  his  ration  of  fat  in  many  unsuspected  forms,  in  minute 
quantities  in  connection  with  lean  meat,  in  rich  sauces,  in  the 
many  dishes  seasoned  with  butter  and  cream.  The  man  who 
lives  on  plainer  fare  may  in  reality  take  less  fat  in  his  three 
meals,  although  it  is  more  in  evidence  in  the  form  of  fat  meat  or 
a  thick  layer  of  butter  or  bacon  fat  on  his  bread. 

The  principal  foods  furnish  fat  in  the  following  proportions: 

Meat  (spoken  of  as  lean)     .         .         .  5-12  per  cent. 

Eggs 12 

Milk 3-4 

Butter 80-90 

Cheese 8-30 

Green  vegetables         ....  0.3 

Nuts 53-66 

Wheat         .         .         .         .         .         .  ) 

Rye S 

Oats .  4-5 

Corn    .  5-6 


88 


THE    KUMFORD    KITCHEN   LEAFLETS. 

No.   13. 


THE    FOOD    OF    SCHOOL    CHILDREN    AND    YOUNG 
STUDENTS. 

Written  for  the  Runford  Kitchen  by  ELLEN  H.  RICHARDS. 

THE  accompanying  diagram,  showing  approximately  the  amounts 
of  the  three  chief  classes  of  food-stuffs  which  are  required  for 
human  nutrition  at  the  different  ages,  points  most  clearly  to  the 
great  importance  of  care  during  the  school  age.  When  children 
are  free"  to  roam  they  forage  for  themselves  to  a  great  extent, 
and  although  they  may  eat  unwisely,  yet  such  is  their  power  of 
assimilation,  that  comparatively  little  harm  comes  of  it.  They 
satisfy  their  hunger  and  grow  strong  through  incessant  activity. 

But  children  in  school  are  more  or  less  like  animals  in  captivity, 
and  the  question  of  their  food  should  be  as  carefully  studied. 
For  our  town  and  city  schools  particularly,  there  are  inevitable 
difficulties  to  be  overcome  only  through  a  wise  adjustment  of  facts 
to  the  conditions. 

The  long  distance  to  be  travelled  by  some  necessitates  leaving 
home  early;  therefore  •  the  breakfast  is  often  hurried  for  fear  of 
being  late  to  school.  Owing  to  a  lack  of  fresh  air  in  the  sleeping- 
rooms  the  morning  appetite  of  many  children  is  capricious,  and 
therefore  the  breakfast  taken  is  insufficient  in  quantity,  or  in- 
adequate in  quality,  even  when  time  enough  is  allowed. 

COPYRIGHT,   1«>.0., 7*Y~ELLEN  H.  RlCUARUS. 

89 


The  thoughtful  mother  puts  up  a  luncheon,  usually  of  the  things 
her  child  likes  best :  cake,  pies,  and  cookies.  The  careless  mother 
may  or  may  not  fill  the  luncheon  basket. 

Tin'  child  is  a  young  animal  as  well  as  a  young  scholar,  and  at 
an  age  when  all  other  young  animals  eat  almost  constantly  while 
awake,  and  sleep  half  the  time  in  periods  alternating  with  those 
of  eating,  this  young  creature  goes  in  haste  to  school,  sits  in  a 
fixed  position,  if  not  in  a  cramped  one,  breathes  more  or  less 
vitiated  air  for  four  or  five  hours  a  day,  with  comparatively  short 
intervals  of  exercise,  and  very  little  of  that  out  of  doors. 

Comparatively  few  mothers  really  know  how  much  children 
eat,  for,  as  was  said  above,  they  forage  for  themselves  to  a  great 
extent,  and  if  a  luncheon  is  put  up  for  the  child  it  often  happens 
that  it  is  eaten  up  hours  before  it  was  supposed  to  be  required, 
and  then  there  is  nothing  left  for  the  regular  luncheon  time,  and 
the  child  goes  hungry  for  too  long  a  time.  Four  meals  a  day  are 
recommended  as  best  for  children,  and  the  school  lunch  should 
serve  as  one  of  these. 

The  need  of  some  better  provision  for  the  food  of  young 
children,  who  are  kept  so  far  away  from  the  base  of  supplies  for 
so  many  hours  of  the  day,  is  imperative  ;  for  insufficient  nutrition 
(a  very  different  thing  from  insufficient  food)  has  quite  as  much 
to  do  with  the  frequent  breaking  down,  of  the  child  as  over-stimu- 
lation in  study ;  in  fact,  over-stimulation  in  study  is  probably  pos- 
sible only  in  the  case  of  an  insufficiently  nourished  scholar.  The 
healthy,  rosy-cheeked  child  is  too  much  of  an  animal,  contented 
with  life,  to  be  driven  to  over-exertion  in  study. 

An  examination  of  the  diagram  will  show  that  the  actual  weight 
of  food  which  a  child  two  to  four  years  old  needs  is  already  about 
one-fourth  that  of  the  active  working  age.  The  rapid  rise  in 
tissue-forming  albuminoids,  and  in  the  activity-giving  carbohy- 
drates from  the  tenth  year  after  a  slight  equilibrium  from  the 
fourth  to  the  tenth  is  most  instructive.  At  the  age  of  nine  or  ten, 
then,  just  when  the  child  is  in  the  grammar  school,  begins  a 

90 


period  of  great  activity  which  seems  to  exert  a  marked  influence 
in  perfecting  the  development  belonging  to  the  next  stage.  A 
child  of  twelve  to  fifteen  requires  as  much  food  in  actual  weight 
as  a  person  in  the  prime  of  life  at  fifty  to  sixty,  and  only  a  little 
less  than  a  hard-working  man.  Insufficient  food  at  these  ages 
causes  more  serious  consequences  than  at  a  later  period. 

The  confinement  of  the  child  in  the  school-room  for  long  at  a 
time  should  not  be  tolerated  during  these  years ;  and  not  only  a 
recess  but  a  suitable  luncheon  should  be  insisted  on  when  children 
leave  home  by  or  before  eight  o'clock,  and  do  not  reach  home 
until  half-past  twelve  or  one  or  even  two  o'clock. 

It  is  time  that  a  vigorous  protest  was  made  against  the  claim 
that  over-study  in  school  is  the  cause  of  all  the  evils  of  school 
life.  Let  a  careful  examination  be  made  of  the  facts  as  to  food 
and  exercise  before  a  universal  condemnation  of  our  intellectual 
methods  of  education  is  allowed. 

It  has  for  a  long  time  been  considered  desirable  that  a  good 
nutritious  hot  luncheon,  or  some  bread  and  milk,  should  be  served 
in  the  middle  of  the  morning ;  but  the  way  to  the  practical  attain- 
ment of  this  has  not  seemed  open.  The  chocolate  and  cakes  sold 
at  many  of  the  school-houses  help  slightly  ;  but  there  is  need  for 
something  more  systematically  planned. 

This  question  of  ways  and  means  has  come  up  in  reference  to 
the  plan  which  is  growing  in  favor  in  New  England  at  least,  of 
bringing  the  children  to  a  central  graded  school,  instead  of  having 
a  number  of  ungraded  schools  in  widely  separated  sections  of  the 
town. 

The  penny  dinners  of  the  English  schools  are  out  of  the  ques- 
tion in  America,  not  on  account  of  the  cost  of  material,  but  on 
account  of  our  standard  of  living,  and  consequently  the  increased 
cost  of  serving  food  in  an  acceptable  manner. 

Sufficient  and  nutritious  luncheon  can  be  furnished  to  the  pupils 
of  a  large  school  for  from  three  to  five  cents  each,  but  from  our 

91 


present  knowledge,  it  would  require  about  a  ten-cent  luncheon  to 
satisfy  the  taste  of  the  American  scholar. 

In  order  to  help  solve  this  question,  among  others,  luncheons 
were  served  daily  for  the  winter  of  1892-3  to  the  pupils  of  the 
Boston  Normal  School  of  Gymnastics.  This  was  done  at  the  re- 
quest of  Miss  A.  M.  Homans,  the  director,  whose  long  connection 
with  the  School  Kitchens,  as  well  as  her  present  interest  in  physi- 
cal training,  led  her  to  a  just  appreciation  of  the  value  of  this  factor 
in  education ;  and  to  her  enthusiasm  and  efficient  management  the 
success  of  the  plan  is  due. 

Although  these  students  were  young  women,  and  not  grammar 
school  children,  yet  a  general  method  of  procedure  lias  been 
outlined,  and  a  suggestion,  at  least,  obtained  of  some  possible 
methods  of  obtaining  the  desired  results. 

The  composition  and  food  value  of  these  luncheons  may  be 
studied  from  the  following  table,  showing  one  month's  supply. 

The  practical  results  of  suiting  the  taste  of  the  pupils  within 
the  stipulated  price  of  fifteen  cents  per  luncheon  delivered  at  the 
school-house  were  obtained  before  the  theoretical  calculation  of 
the  actual  values  was  made.  The  figures  show  that  it  is  possible, 
with  such  a  knowledge  of  the  composition  of  food-stuffs  as  the 
manager  of  the  New  England  Kitchen,  Miss  S.  E.  Wentworth, 
possesses,  to  approximate  very  closely  to  required  conditions 
without  an  elaborate  series  of  analyses  or  computations. 

The  luncheon  is  designed  to  furnish  one-fourth  of  the  total  food 
value  for  the  day. 

For  comparison  is  given  one-fourth  of  the  two  standard  rations. 

Proteid.  Fat.  Carbohydrates.        Calories. 

Voit  ration  .     .     .     24.5  grms.     14  grms.        125  grins.         742 
American  ration   .     31.2     "          31.2  114  882 

92 


STATEMENT  OF  ONE  MONTH'S  LUNCHEONS  SERVED  TO  STUDENTS 
(WOMEN)  FIVE  DAYS  IN  THE  WEEK,  BEGINNING  FEBRUARY  1, 
ENDING  FEBRUARY  28,  1893. 


Feb.    1. 

Ounces. 

FOOD  VALUE  IN  GRAMS. 

Calorics. 

2 

o> 

1 

OM 

1 

>*  . 

ja  a 

0    <t> 

P 

Beef  Broth   

9.4    1 
4.0    1 
4.0 
0.7   J 

26.3 

20.4 

128.4 

817.6 

2  Rolls    
Gingerbread  
Butter      .    .  .  

Feb.    2. 

Baked  Beans  

8.4    ] 
4.2 

2:?' 

5.5   J 

26.3 

35.6 

131.4 

979.3 

Brown  Bread 

1  Roll 

Butter              

1  Orange  

Feb.    3. 

Escallopcd  Meat  .  .  . 
Rolls  

10.0    1 
4.0    ! 
0.7    | 
5.3   J 

32,2 

26.8 

138.8 

942.5 

Butter  
Apple  Sauce  

Feb.    6. 

Vegetable  Soup 

9.7   1 
4.0    | 
0.7    j 
6.0   J 

20.0 

20.9 

92.1 

648.2 

Rolls  ... 

Butter  

Apricot  Sauce  

Feb.    7. 

Potato  Soup    

9  6   1 
4.0    1 
0.7    [ 
8.0   J 

15.0 

24.9 

131.5 

826.1 

Rolls    

Butter 

2  Baked  Apples  , 

STATEMENT  OF  ONE  MONTH'S  LUNCHEONS.  —  Continued. 


Ounces. 

FOOD  VALUE  IN  GRAMS. 

Calorics. 

H3 

1 

2 
£ 

1 

•§8 
•P  "3 

If 

Feb.    8. 

Pea  Soup  
Rolls 

9.8    ] 
4.0    ( 
07    f 
4.0   J 

23.6 

35.4 

126.1 

935.3 

Butter 

Apple  Cuke   

Feb.    9. 

Beef  Hash  

6.4   ] 
4.0 
0.7 
5.3  J 

33.1 

24.0 

136.5 

911.8 

Rolls 

Butter 

Apple  Sauce  

Feb.  10. 

Oyster  Soup  
Rolls  

9.6    1 
4.0 
07    [ 
5.3   J 

20.9 

25.9 

108.0 

762.5 

Butter 

Prune  Sauce 

Feb.  13. 

Beef  Croquettes  

4.0   1 
4.0    | 
4.0    [ 
0.7 
8.0   J 

168 

22.7 

111.4 

738.8 

Potato  Croquettes    .  . 
Rolls  

Butter  

Baked  Apples  

Feb.  14. 

Fish  Chowder  
Rolls 

10.0   ] 
4.0 
0.7 
5.5   j 

22.2 

i 
30.0     101.2 

1 

778.1 

Butter  

Orange  

Feb.  15. 

Tomato  Soup  
Rolls  

9.7   ] 
4.0    I 
0.7    [ 
3.5   J 

19.1 

26.3 

103.0 

739.0 

Butter  

Doughnuts  

94 


STATEMENT  OK  ONE  MONTH'S  LUNCHEONS.  —  Continued* 


Feb.  16. 

Ounces. 

FOOD  VALUE  IK  GRAMS. 

Calorics. 

2 

2 

& 

1 

fj 

li 

a- 

Escalloped  Fish  
Rolls 

4.0   ] 
4.0    \ 
0.7    j 

8.0    j 

26.8 

24.0 

109.8 

777.2 

Butter      

Baked  Apples  

Feb.  17. 

Baked  Beans  

8.4    1 
4.2     | 

2.0  ; 

0.7 
5.3   J 

26.3 

35.6 

131.4 

979.3 

Brown  Bread 

1  Roll      

Butter  

1  Orange 

Feb.  20. 

Corn  Soup  
Rolls     

9.6    ] 
4.0    ! 
0.7    f 
5.3   J 

13.6 

23.1 

107.0 

704.2 

Butter 

Apple  Sauce  

Feb.  21. 

Beef  Broth 

941 

26.3 

20.4 

128.4 

817.5 

Rolls  . 

4.0    | 
0.7    | 
4.0   J 

Butter  

Gingerbread 

Feb.  22. 

Baked  Beans 

8.4   ] 
4.2    | 
2.0    } 
07 
5.5   J 

26.3 

35.6 

131.4 

979.3 

Brown  Bread  . 

1  Roll  

Butter  

1  Orange   .  .    .  . 

STATEMENT  OF  ONE  MONTH'S  LUNCHEONS.  —  Concluded. 


Ounces. 

FOOD  VALUE  IN  GRAMS. 

Calorics. 

TJ 
* 

1 

>>  . 

| 

Feb.  23. 

Escalloped  Oysters.  .  . 
Rolls  

4.5  1 
40  | 
0.7  j 
5.0  J 

24.0 

34.0 

115.2 

880.3 

Butter  

Buns  

Feb.  24. 

Tomato  Soup  
Rolls  
Butter  

9.7  ] 
40  1 
0.7  { 
8.0  J 

15.0 

19.5 

108.4 

681.8 

Baked  Apples  

Feb.  27. 

Potato  Soup 

9.6  1 
4.0  ! 
07  { 
6.0  J 

19.1 

24.9 

139.7 

875.9 

Rolls  

Butter 

Lemon  Jelly 

Feb.  28. 

Pea  Soup  

9.8  1 
4.0  I 
0.7  j 
4.0  J 

23.6 

35.4 

1215.1 

935.3 

Rolls  .      .    . 

Butter      

\pplc  Cake 

Average  

22.8 

27.1 

120.2 

827.4 

96 


This  table  illustrates  the  combinations  which  proved  successful 
in  the  case  of  this  set  of  individuals.  A  still  more  instructive 
table  would  be  that  showing  the  combinations  theoretically  far 
better  which  failed  to  please  the  taste  ;  but  until  a  wider  range  of 
experience  has  shown  how  far  local  prejudice  may  be  overcome 
by  a  little  patience  and  education,  it  is  not  worth  while  to  em- 
phasize the  failures.  All  that  is  here  intended  is  to  show  that  it  is 
possible  to  serve  nutritious  and  palatable  luncheons  to  large  num- 
bers of  people,  with  a  sufficient  variety  to  keep  up  the  appetite. 
In  the  spring,  a  change  was  made  to  some  lighter  dishes,  and  a 
further  study  of  possible  variations  is  in  progress.  No  other 
accessory  —  such  as  tea  or  coffee  —  was  served  in  this  case.  With 
a  few  slight  changes  in  the  way  of  substituting  less  costly  stews 
for  the  oysters,  these  luncheons  could  be  served  in  quantity  for  a 
large  school  for  10  cents  each. 

Those  interested  in  this  question  will  find  two  most  valuable 
papers  on  the  growth  of  school  children,  by  Dr.  Henry  P.  Bow- 
ditch,  one  in  the  eighth  annual  report  (1877,  page  275),  the  other 
in  the  twenty-second  annual  report  (1891,  page  479),  of  the  State 
Board  of  Health  of  Massachusetts. 

The  curves  here  given,  showing  the  increase  in  height  and 
weight  of  Boston  school-children,  coincide  in  a  very  marked 
degree  with  those  on  the  accompanying  diagram. 

It  is,  however,  characteristic  of  the  hitherto  prevailing  feeling 
in  regard  to  food,  that,  in  this  exhaustive  paper,  no  mention  is. 
made  of  the  influence  on  the  physical  development  of  children 
which  food  exerts ;  and  yet  no  question  is  of  more  importance 
both  for  the  school  committee  and  for  the  teacher  to  consider. 

It  may  be  argued  that  the  school  has  no  right  to  interfere  with 
the  home  life  and  habits;  but  surely  the  director  of  physical 
training  has  a  right  to  refuse  to  allow  girls  to  exercise  in  corsets, 
and  has  not  the  teacher  as  much  right  to  refuse  to  urge  on  in 
study  a  starved  boy?  The  schools  are  potent  factors  in  devel- 
oping the  general  ideas  of  the  people,  as  well  as  in  teaching 

97 


arithmetic  to  the  children;  and  with  the  increasing  sociological 
tendencies  of  the  times  an  ever-widening  field  of  influence  is  here 
oh'ered. 

THE  FOOD  OF  STUDENTS. 

Second  only  in  importance  to  the  food  of  the  child  is  that  of 
the  youth  in  the  secondary  school  and  the  college. 

A  glance  at  the  accompanying  diagram  will  show  that  during 
the  years  of  student  life  the  normal  development  of  the  body  re- 
quires an  excess  of  food,  and  that,  if  the  brain  is  not  to  be  devel- 
oped at  the  expense  of  the  body,  a  jealous  watch  must  be  kept 
over  the  food  of  the  young  brain-worker. 

This  care  must  take  into  consideration  two  points  —  sufficient 
quantity  and  availability ;  for  it  is  not  what  is  eaten,  but  what  is 
digested,  which  nourishes,  and  the  young  student  cannot  well 
afford  two  hours  of  rest  after  each  meal  to  allow  the  hard  work 
of  the  stomach  to  be  finished  before  that  of  the  brain  begins. 

If  double  work  is  required  of  a  horse,  he  is  given  double  feed. 
All  work  is  one ;  work  means  expenditure  of  energy,  whether  in 
thinking  or  in  lifting  weights ;  the  only  source  of  human  energy 
is  the  food  which  is  assimilated  and  made  a  part  of  the  body  tis- 
sues (a  very  different  thing  from  the  food  eaten) . 

This  fact  is  now  perfectly  well  established,  and  it  should  be  rec- 
ognized by  all  educators,  that  good  thinking,  like  good  rowing,  re- 
quires proper  feeding. 

THE  DIETARY  OF  THE  COLLEGE  STUDENT 

Should  be  a  subject  of  careful  study  by  every  college  faculty, 
and  as  great  care  should  be  exercised  in  selecting  the  steward, 
who  is  in  fact  to  determine  the  mental  standard  of  all  the  stu- 
dents, as  in  selecting  the  professor  of  Greek  or  history.  When 
the  academic  world  becomes  convinced  of  the  importance  of  this 
factor,  we  shall  see  a  race  of  American  students  far  outstripping 
all  others. 

98 


It  would  be  of  great  advantage  to  have  a  friendly  rivalry  in  re- 
gard to  this  side  of  college  life. 

WHAT  SHOULD  BE  THE  QUANTITY  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THE 
FOOD  OF  THE  AMERICAN  COLLEGE  STUDENT? 

It  depends  upon  many  circumstances,  chiefly  upon  whether 
there  is  a  necessity  of  economy  in  time,  in  money,  or  in  mental 
power. 

It  is  because  of  the  remarkable  adaptability  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  race  to  climate  and  to  food  that  it  has  been  able  to  girdle 
the  globe.  Hence  it  has  come  to  be  a  belief  that  man  could  eat 
anything  and  everything,  and  that  his  food  was  of  less  conse- 
quence than  anything  else.  Certain  unmistakable  signs,  however, 
point  to  the  fact  that  there  is  a  limit  to  this  adaptability,  or  at  least 
to  the  speed  with  which  it  may  be  safely  accomplished.  The  lat- 
ter is  the  more  probable  reason.  A  family  is  now  able  to  entirely 
change  its  surroundings  in  a  few  days  to  a  degree  which  formerly 
required  years  to  accomplish. 

In  order  to  gain  even  a  little  light  on  this  question,  another 
experiment  was  tried  during  the  same  year  (1892),  in  order  to 
determine  the  amount  and  character  of  food  taken  by  students 
at  hard  work  (mostly  young  men  of  18  to  22)  when  they 
had  a  certain  range  of  choice.  A  lunch-room  patronized  by 
between  three  and  four  hundred  was  furnished  with  the  same 
soups,  bread,  rolls,  and  baked  beans  as  those  sent  to  the  young 
women.  In  addition,  pies,  cakes,  cold  meats,  and  salads  were 
furnished  ;  also  coffee,  milk,  and  chocolate.  Instead  of  a  definite 
luncheon  for  a  fixed  price,  each  portion  was  served  separately 
and  the  student  made  up  his  own  list,  thus  giving  a  wide  range  of 
selection.  For  a  term  or  half-year,  beginning  September  26, 
1892,  and  ending  January  9,  1893,  a  careful  account  was  kept  of 
the  food  used. 

Although  the  figures  must  be  accepted  as  only  approximate, 
owing  to  the  fact  that  the  composition  of  the  pies,  cakes,  etc., 
made  outside  the  New  England  kitchen  can  only  be  estimated  and 

99 


not  accurately  calculated,  yet  they  are  sufficiently  correct  to  fur- 
nish a  basis  for  further  work.     The  average  amount  spent  for 
lunches  was  21  cents  —  ranging  from  15  to  30  cents. 
The  average  food-value  per  person  was : 

Proteid.  Fat.  Carbohydrates.  Calorics. 

29  gms.  37.3  gms.  106.6  gms.  894.8  gms. 

The  proportion  of  the  proteid  to  fats  is  very  suggestive,  and  con- 
firms Prof.  Atwater's  views  that  far  more  fat  is  eaten  in  America 
than  Germany.  This  is  well  shown  by  a  comparison  of  these 
figures  with  those  given  on  the  diagram  for  the  same  ages. 
Americans  seem  to  eat  far  more  fat  and  sugar,  and  consequently 
less  starch,  than  the  average  German.  How  far  this  is  due  to 
climate  and  to  habit,  or  to  the  fact  that  it  is  not  necessary  in  this 
country  to  live  so  largely  on  bread,  remains  to  be  studied.  It 
should  however,  be  considered  in  providing  for  American  stu- 
dents. 

The  experiment  has  continued  now  for  three  years  on  the  same 
lines,  and  may  be  considered  to  prove  that  a  limited  variety  of 
uniformly  well-prepared  food  will  be  taken  even  by  that  capricious 
animal,  a  young  student. 

In  connection  with  the  marked  increase  of  the  sugar  and  fat 
there  arises  another  vital  question  in  physiological  chemistry. 
The  old  adage,  "  After  breakfast  walk  a  mile,  after  dinner  sleep 
awhile,"  was  founded  on  experience  in  the  time  when  starch  in 
the  form  of  more  or  less  heavy  bread,  and  of  potatoes  and  fat  in 
the  form  of  pork,  was  the  chief  source  of  the  carbohydrates  and 
fat  taken.  Does  the  same  hold  true  at  this  date,  when  the  more 
readily  assimilated  butter  replaces  pork,  and  when  the  already 
partly  digested  sugar  replaces  a  part  of  the  starch,  and  when  the 
light,  fine  wheat-bread  taxes  much  less  the  power  of  digestion  ? 
In  other  words,  how  far  is  it  physiologically  correct  to  encourage 
brain  workers  to  omit  |the  after-dinner  rest  by  furnishing  them 
with  a  noon  meal  which  will  not  so  tax  all  their  bodily  powers  as 

100 


to  leave  nothing  available  for  mental  work?  For  my  own  part,  I 
believe  that  whatever  may  be  the  case  for  the  morning  and  even- 
ing meal,  the  character  of  the  food  taken  during  the  working 
hours  of  students  should  be  such  as  to  sustain  the  supply  of  force- 
producing  material  in  the  blood,  without  requiring  a  large  per 
cent,  of  the  force  already  at  hand  to  convert  the  food  eaten  into 
new  force-producing  material. 

Herein  lies  a  new  problem  in  the  conservation  of  energy,  and 
of  that  most  productive  of  all  forms  of  energy,  that  of  human 
thought. 

Until  this  law  is  apprehended  and  applied,  we  do  not  know  of 
how  much  the  American  student  may  be  capable. 

101 


This  diagram  is  only  an  approximate  statement  of  observed 
facts.  The  value  of  such  generalizations  lies  in  the  number  of 
observations  upon  which  they  are  based,  and  in  this  case  they  are 
too  few  for  a  final  decision.  Further,  the  facts  are  from  German 
somves  almost  exclusively,  because  no  others  gave  the  whole 
scries;  and  it  seemed  better  to  adhere  to  a  uniform  standard  of 
calculation  in  view  of  the  great  gaps  in  our  knowledge.  It  is 
irivcn  in  this  imperfect  state  in  order  to  induce  a  fuller  study  of 
the  question. 

From  what  we  do  know  of  the  American  standards,  it  seems 
probable  that  the  curve  of  carbohydrates  would  be  less  marked, 
and  that  the  curve  of  fats  would  be  nearly  coincident  with  that  of 
the  proteids  except  in  that  part  showing  the  amount  from  the  10th 
to  the  20th  year  if  drawn  to  represent  American  practice. 

The  steepness  of  the  curve  of  carbohydrates  shows  the  need 
of  a  full  supply  of  the  material  which  serves  as  the  source  of 
power  for  the  very  great  activity  of  youth.  The  child  naturally 
runs  all  day  long;  the  activity,  the  amount  of  work  done,  is  enor- 
mously in  excess  of  that  done  in  after  life,  aimless  though  it  may 
seem.  It  is  none  the  less  work  because  it  is  work  of  heart  and 
lungs,  and  muscular  exercise  in  play.  It  is  useful  work,  in  that  it 
builds  up  a  structure  for  the  grown  man  to  use  ;  it  is  the  building 
time,  and  the  building  can  not  be  well  made,  strongly  put  to- 
gether, without  it.  This  intense  activity  is  required  for  the  metab- 
olism of  the  tissue,  which  is  also  rapid,  as  will  be  seen  by  the 
curve  of  proteid.  If  the  weight  of  the  individual  at  different  ages 
were  taken  into  account,  this  would  be  even  more  marked. 

102 


103 


THE    RUMFORD    KITCHEN    LEAFLETS. 

No.   14. 


PROPHYLACTIC  AND  THERAPEUTIC  VALUE  OF  FOOD. 

Read  at  the  meeting  of  the  American  Public  Health  Association,  Chicago,  Oct. 
19,  1893,  by  ELLEN  H.  RICHARDS. 

THE  views  now  held  concerning  the  causation  and  prevention 
of  disease  lead  us  to  hope  that  a  new  era  is  dawning  for  the  study 
of  food  in  its  relation  to  health  and  sickness. 

Mrs.  Abel  has  chosen  for  the  motto  of  the  series  of  Rumford 
Kitchen  Leaflets  the  following  saying  of  Donders,  which  was 
first  quoted  by  Voit:  "He  who  works  with  all  his  strength  on 
the  development  of  our  knowledge  of  food  and  nutrition,  and 
who  also  persistently  strives  to  apply  the  results  of  investi- 
gation, is  working  on  a  broad  basis  for  the  development  of  man- 
kind." 

No  body  of  men  can  be  more  interested  in  the  application  of 
scientific  knowledge  to  daily  life  than  the  members  of  the  Public 
Health  Association,  or  more  keenly  alive  to  the  liability  to  mis- 
take on  the  part  of  enthusiasts,  and  certainly  no  body  of  men  can 
so  warmly  sympathize  with  those  who  are  striving  to  bring  well- 
known  facts  into  general  circulation  in  the  face  of  difficulty  and 
discouragement.  As  Count  Rumford  so  well  stated  it:  "The 
slowness  with  which  improvements  of  all  kinds  make  their  way 
into  common  use,  and.  especially  such  improvements  as  are  the 
most  calculated  to  be  of  general  utility,  is  very  remarkable,  and 


CoPYJtiour,  ijftJS,  BY  ELLEN 

104 


forms  a  striking  contrast  to  the  extreme  avidity  with  which  those 
unmeaning  changes  are  adopted,  which  folly  and  caprice  are  con- 
tinually bringing  forth  and  sending  into  the  world  under  the 
auspices  of  fashion." 

But  Count  Rumford  worked  almost  alone  and  far  in  advance 
of  his  time,  while  we  can  count  on  the  sympathy  and  support  of 
scores  of  able  men,  and  it  is  for  that  reason  that  we  appeal  to 
you  <for  cooperation,  suggestion,  and  criticism.  The  world  at 
present  needs  most  of  all  what  I  have  elsewhere  called  a  standard 
of  health,  a  normal  "  w'ell-being.'" 

Given  a  well-built,  smoothly-working  bodily  machine  placed 
under  good  conditions  in  a  wholesome  environment,  and  it  is 
chiefly  a  question  of  good  food  as  to  how  nearby  the  standard  can 
be  kept  up. 

As  a  good  workman  can  do  better  work  with  a  poor  tool  than  a 
poor  workman  can  do  with  a  good  tool,  so  a  man  with  skill  de- 
rived from  knowledge  can  often  make  better  use  of  a  body  crip- 
pled by  accident  or  inheritance  than  his  neighbor  can  of  a  perfect 
equipment.  Many  a  structure  is  strengthened  by  a  brace  here 
and  a  bolt  thereuntil  it  long  outlasts  a  better-built  one:  so  the 
right  kind  and  quantity  of  food,  with  rigid  abstinence  from  irritat- 
ing or  clogging  substances,  may  so  strengthen  a  weak  heart  or  a 
feeble  constitution  that  the  natural  term  of  life  may  be  reached 
in  comparative  comfort.  On  the  other  hand,  the  delicately  ad- 
justed machine  may  be  thrown  into  disorder  by  a  very  slight 
indiscretion  which  may  not  matter  for  once,  but  which,  repeated, 
wears  a  groove  which  deepens  more  and  more  until  it  is  in  danger 
of  stopping  the  machinery. 

A  great  need  of  the  present  time  is  a  better  standard  of  health, 
a  test  measure  of  the  duty  (used  in  the  engineering  sense)  of  the 
human  body.  The  engineer  knows  how  much  his  engine  is  in- 
tended to  do,  and  he  chooses  that  fuel  and  that  lubricant  which  will 
enable  the  task  to  be  accomplished.  Each  human  machine  has  a 
certain  capacity  of  work,  a  certain  load  under  which  it  works 
best ;  each  individual  can,  generally  speaking,  if  he  will,  control 

105 


this  load  or  strain  so  as  to  get  the  full  duty  of  the  machine.  Here 
also  it  is  fuel  and  lubricant,  that  is,  food  and  enjoyment  of  work. 

To  be  well  means  to  have  good  spirits,  good  temper,  and  a  cer- 
tain elasticity  or  capacity  to  do  more  than  the  normal  without 
passing  the  limit  of  recovery.  In  this  "  well-being,"  this  "feel- 
ing like  a  fighting  cock,"  in  homely  phrase,  lies,  in  the  main,  as 
we  believe,  the  secret  of  resistance  to  disease.  Therefore  to 
keep  the  body  in  good  working  condition  seems  to  be  also  to 
render  it  most  resistent  to  the  inroads  of  disease.  The  power 
of  accommodation  is  such  in  this  delicate  machine  that  the 
most  diverse  substances  can  be  utilized,  and  the  range  of  sub- 
stanccs  found  useful  for  human  nutrition  is  very  wide,  so  wide 
that  man  has  jumped  to  the  conclusion  that  it  made  no  differ- 
ence what  he  ate ;  and  while  to  a  certain  extent  this  may  be  true 
in  a  state  of  robust  health  and  active  exercise,  it  is  far  from  it 
when  once  the  balance  has  been  disturbed  and  the  machinery  is 
working  badly,  so  that,  in  the  case  of  inherited  weakness  or  of  ac- 
cidental disability,  food  becomes  of  more  importance,  and  the 
cause  of  public  health  would  gain  much  and  public  temper  still 
more  if  this  fact  could  be  generally  recognized. 

It  is  the  day  of  "small  things"  —  quantities  formerly  consid- 
ered insignificant  are  now  held  responsible  for  great  disorders. 

An  excess  of  food  over  the  supply  of  chemical  agents  in  the 
alimentary  canal  causes  imperfect  decomposition,  and  leads  to 
irritability,  if  it  does  not  leave  poisonous  products,  to  be  more  or 
less  absorbed  into  the  blood  ;  a  danger  the  greater  because  often 
quite  unsuspected. 

This  intimate  connection  of  good  food  and  good  temper  might 
be  emphasized  to  advantage  both  in  school  and  in  society. 

The  prophylactic  value  of  food  is  then  to  keep  the  human  body 
in  a  high  condition  of  health.  For  this  there  seems  to  be  no  gen- 
eral rule,  since  individual  idiosyncrasies  and  mental  conditions 
exercise  a  marked  influence  on  capacity  for  utilization  of  nourish- 
ment. The  main  object  to  be  gained  is  to  establish  a  higher 
standard  of  health  in  the  community,  to  make  as  widely  known 

106 


as  possible  the  fact  that  much  of  the  ill-health  now  prevalent  is 
needless,  that  a  little  self-denial,  a  little  more  attention  to  the  rules 
of  hygiene,  a  little  more  living  in  the  open  air,  would  cause  a 
large  part  of  the  disturbances  of  health  now  so  common  to  dis- 
appear. 

Self-indulgence  and  a  deep-seated  superstition  that  medicine 
can  take  away  all  evil  consequences  lead  men  to  swallow 
the  pill  and  throw  away  the  sound  advice  which  usually  ac- 
companies it. 

A  man  will  attribute  a  headache  in  the  morning  to  anything 
rather  than  to  the  dinner  of  the  night  before. 

Drugs,  however  useful  in  emergencies,  can  never  take  the  place 
of  the  daily  food  ;  if  that  is  clean,  wholesome,  and  right  in  kind 
and  quantity,  there  is  little  chance  for  disease  to  find  a  foothold ; 
but  once  let  the  normal  life  be  disturbed,  and  the  importance  of 
the  food  taken  rises  rapidly. 

The  therapeutic  value  of  food  it  is  hardly  possible  to  estimate. 
It  is  often  the  one  determining  factor  in  the  question  of  recovery 
—  more  often  than  one  likes  to  think  in  view  of  the  ignorance  and 
carelessness  so  often  seen  in  feeding  the  sick. 

Still  more  in  sickness  than  in  health,  food  should  be  such  that  it 
furnishes  sufficient  nourishment,  but  not  more  than  can  be  assimi- 
lated by  a  system  weakened  by  disease. 

A  knowledge  of  the  right  proportions  of  the  essential  food 
substances,  and  of  the  absolute  quantity  or  food  value  of  the  food 
given  to  the  very  sick,  is  necessary  to  the  physician,  if  not  to  the 
nurse.  How  many  a  life  has  been  lost  because  of  a  lack  of  this 
knowledge  the  world  will  never  know. 

Therefore,  we  believe  that  when  medical  schools  teach  so 
thoroughly  the  principles  of  physiological  chemistry  and  of  the 
science  of  nutrition,  already  well  known,  that  the  physician  be- 
comes perfectly  conversant  with  the  food  values  of  the  different 
articles  of  food  which  he  prescribes,  and  with  the  appearance 
they  present  when  they  are  properly  prepared,  then  the  per- 
centage of  recovery  will  be  largely  increased. 

107 


At  present  there  are  comparatively  few  persons  who  are  called 
upon  to  feed  the  sick  to  whom  a  glass  of  milk  or  a  pound  of  beef 
represent  any  definite  amount  of  food  materials.  Still  fewer  who 
can  tell  how  much  food-value  a  glass  of  lemon  jelly  or  wine 
whey  represents,  and  yet  the  adult  patient  is  dependent  upon  the 
attendant  even  more  than  the  week-old  infant  for  the  requisite 
nutrition. 

The  time  is  surely  ripe  for  some  definite  experiments  in  this 
line,  and  as  it  is  so  often  the  first  step  that  costs,  the  first  plunge 
that  gives  the  cold  chill  of  disenchantment  or  disappointment,  I 
venture  to  make  the  next  step,  that  of  criticism,  easier,  and  have 
given  in  the  following  tables  some  suggestive  combinations,  in 
the  hope  that  some  one  favorably  situated  and  philosophically 
inclined  may  carry  on  the  investigation. 

From  the  experiments  made  by  the  best  investigators,  it  seems 
probable  that  only  about  one-third  of  the  daily  ration  is  available 
for  kinetic  force ;  that  is,  that  only  about  one-third  of  the  total 
energy  contained  in  the  daily  food  can  be  utilized  in  digging 
trenches,  carrying  bricks,  climbing  mountains,  designing  bridges, 
or  writing  poems  and  essays. 

The  other  two-thirds  is  used  up  in  the  internal  work  of  the 
body,  the  action  of  the  heart,  lungs,  and  the  production  of  the 
large  amount  of  heat  necessary  to  life. 

If  this  is  the  case,  then  we  may  make  out  a  life  ration,  or  that 
amount  of  food  which  is  necessary  in  order  to  keep  the  human 
machine  in  existence  without  any  special  accomplishment  of 
either  body  or  mind,  and  a  work  ration  which  includes  the 
amount  of  food  required  by  the  human  machine  in  order  to  pro- 
duce results  either  physical  or  mental. 

For  this  climate,  and  for  the  habits  of  our  people,  I  have  esti- 
mated this  life  ration  as  approximately : 

Proteid.  Fat.  Carbohydrate.  Calories. 

75  grams.          40  grams.          325  grams.  2,000 


108 


And  the  maximum  and  minimum  work  ration  as : 

Proteid.  Fat.  Carbohydrate.  Calories. 

125  grams.       125  grams.          450  grams.  3,500 

110      "  90      "  420      •'  3,000 

An  examination  of  the  actual  dietaries  of  some  of  the  very  poor 
who  eat  just  enough  to  live,  without  doing  any  work,  shows  that 
in  twelve  cases  the  average  was : 

Proteid.  Fat.  Carbohydrate.  Calories. 

81  grams.  88  grams.          272  grams.  2,257 

The  forty-eight  grams  of  fat  would  thus  seem  to  be  the  chief 
source  of  the  little  energy  these  people  showed.  However  far 
out  we  may  be  in  this  calculation,  it  will  serve  its  purpose  as  a 
working  hypothesis  to  enable  us  to  determine  the  true  standard. 
Taking  this  as  a  basis,  I  have  made  out  the  following  tables  of 
some  dietaries  for  the  sick,  that  is,  for  the  generality  of  cases 
where  no  very  wide  departure  from  normal  diet  is  required,  only 
where  a  lessened  quantity  and  a  liquid  form  is  indicated. 

These  tables  show  how  difficult  it  is  to  secure  sufficient  food  in 
a  liquid  form,  and  how  important  it  is  to  turn  some  of  our  scien- 
tific study  in  this  direction. 

The  full  allowance  of  three  quarts  in  twenty-four  hours  must 
be  taken  of  nearly  any  sort  of  liquid  food,  and  no  one  kind  is  suf- 
ficient in  itself,  so  that  a  variety  is  required. 

For  instance,  three  quarts  of  milk  would  give 

Proteid.  Fat.  Carbohydrate.  Calories. 

102  grams.         108  grams.         132  grams.  1,953 

which  is  about  the  right  amount  of  calories,  but  far  too  much  fat 
and  too  little  carbohydrate  according  to  most  authorities. 

It  would  be  necessary  to  use  skimmed  milk,  and  the  danger  of 
partial  decomposition  or  deterioration  of  the  milk  while  waiting 
for  the  cream  to  rise  is  a  serious  objection  to  general  use  unless 
milk  from  the  centrifugal  separator  can  be  had.  On  the  other 
hand,  if  three  quarts  of  beef  broth  or  consomme  were  given,  the 
patient  would  have  only  — 

109 


Proti-iil.  Fat.  Carbohydrate.  Caloru-n. 

123  grams.          3  grains.  .     .     .  53_; 

This  would  furnish  too  little  fat  and  no  carbohydrate,  and  only 
about  one-fourth  of  the  total  amount  of  heat  necessary.  The  soup 
as  made  at  the  Munich  Hospital  is  much  better,  as  it  contains  — 

Proteid.  Fat.  Carbohydrate.  Calories. 

21.6  grams.      21.6  grams.         108  grams.  730 

One  pound  of  lean  steak  and  three-quarters  of  a  pound  of  rice 
(weighed  uncooked)  yield  the  full  life  ration. 

To  illustrate  how  little  these  points  are  appreciated  we  have 
only  to  turn  to  one  of  the  best  of  invalid  cookery  books  just  pub- 
lished, and  find  that  the  rations  which  are  given  as  guides  to 
nurses,  when  the  physician  has  left  the  food  to  their  judgment, 
prove  far  too  low.  For  instance  : 

Proteid.  Fat.  Carbohydrate.  Calories. 

24.5  grams.     28.5  grams.         65.6  grams.  631 

66.5       ';          23.5     "  83.5       "  831 

These  are  only  one-half,  or  even  one-third  enough,  according  to 
theory,  and  the  amount  of  liquid  is  also  below  the  standard. 

T  was  pleased  to  find  in  an  article  by  Dr.  W.  Prausnitz,  on  the 
food  of  German  hospitals,  calculations  giving  results  not  very  dif- 
ferent from  those  arrived  at  by  myself. '  He  gives  as  the  standard : 

Proteid.  Fat.  Carbohydrate.  Calories. 

For  a  man,        110  grams.     50  grams.     350  to  400  grams.       2,350 
For  a  woman,  100       "          50       "          300  to  350      "  2,100 

The  following  tables  will  serve  as  a  summary  of  the  points 
which  I  have  attempted  to  illustrate.  It  is  to  be  remarked  that 
food  prepared  for  the  very  sick  should  be  nearly  all  digestible, 
while  that  for  the  well  person  contains  at  least  10  per  cent,  and 
more  frequently  15  per  cent,  of  indigestible  material. 

1  Ueber  die  Kost  in  Krankenhausern  mit  besonderer  Beriicksichtigung  der  Miin- 
chener  Verhaltnisse.  Von  Dr.  W.  Prausuitz,  Deutsche  Vierteljahrschrift  fur  offent- 
liche  Gesuudheitspflege  1893.  Band  25.  Seite  563. 

110 


ESTIMATED   LIFE   RATION. 


For  one  day 


Proteid, 
grams. 

Fat, 
grams. 

Carbo- 
hydrates, 
grams. 

Calories. 

75 

40 

325 

2,000 

ESTIMATED   WORK   RATION,   MAXIMUM  AND   MINIMUM. 


Proteid, 
grams. 

Fat, 
grams. 

Carbo- 
hydrates, 
grams. 

Calories. 

125 

125 

450 

3  500 

110 

90 

420 

3,000 

A  COMMON  INVALID   RATION,  TOO   LOW  IN  CARBOHYDRATES. 


Proteid, 
grams. 

Fat, 
grams. 

Carbo- 
hydrates, 
grams. 

Calories. 

1  pint  beef  juice,  containing  7  \>ur 

31  5 

129 

1  pint  whole  milk  ........ 
1  quart  flour  gruel   made    with 

17 
18  2 

18 
18  2 

22 

38 

325.5 
3')  7  9 

2  quarts  of  liquid.                Total, 

66.7 

36.2 

60 

852.4 

111 


AN  IDEAL  RATION  WITH  SOLID  FOOD. 


MATERIAL. 

AMOUNT. 

PROTEID. 

FAT. 

CARBOHT- 

DRATES. 

! 

1 

g 
0 

• 

<5 

Ounces. 

Grams. 

Ounces. 

O 

Ounces. 

Bread  

453.6 
226.8 
226.8 
28.3 
113.4 
453.6 
28.3 

16 
8 
8 
1 
4 
16 
1 
i 

31.75 
34.02 
12.52 
6.60 
3.63 
18.14 

1.12 
1.20 
0.44 
0.23 
0.13 
0.64 

2.26 
11.34 

2.04 
7.50 
4.42 
18.14 

0.08 
0.40 
0.07 
0.26 
0.16 
0.64 

257.28 

9.04 

1,206.82 
243.72 
70.01 
135.42 
75.55 
613.21 
112.17 
118.62 

Meat   

Oysters  

Breakfast  Cocoa     .   . 
Milk     
Broth  

9.60 
4.88 
90.72 
27.36 

0.34 
0.17 
3.20 
0.96 

Sugar  . 

0.14 

12.27 



Total  . 

106.80 

57.97 

389.84 

2,574.60 

112 


A  COMMON  INVALID   RATION,   TOO   LOW  IN  PROTEID. 


Proteid, 
grams. 

Fat, 
grams. 

Carbo- 
hydrates, 
grams. 

Calories. 

1  pint  beef  broth  or  consomme  . 

'20.5 

0.5 

88  7 

50 

205 

21  5 

79 

5'71  7 

1  pint  Imperial  Granum,  contain- 
ing 3  ounces    

6.8 

0.4 

64 

294.0 

2  quarts  of  liquid.                Total, 

27.3 

22.4 

193 

1,109.4 

A   RATION   RICH   IN   PROTEID  —  AFTER  ACUTE   DISEASE. 


MATERIAL. 

Amount, 
grams. 

Am't, 
ounces. 

Proteid, 
grains. 

Fat, 
grams. 

Carbo- 
hydrates, 
grams. 

Calories. 

Bread      .   .    . 

453  6 

16 

31  75 

9  26 

°57  28 

1205  SI 

Meat    

453  6 

16 

64  04 

*»  68 

487  6° 

Milk  without  cream  . 

Coffee    or    tea    with 
cream  

453.6 

453.6 
14.17 

16 

16 

i 

29.02 

4.60 
0  14 

18.00 

3.25 

12  27 

39.00 
1.14 

444.48 

53.43 

118  6'? 

Sugar      

56  7 

54  72 

994  33 

129  55 

58  46 

352  14 

9  745  j9 

Less  10$  for  indiges- 
tibility 

12  95 

5  84 

35  21 

°74  61 

Total 

116  60 

59  62 

316  93 

2  534  31 

113 


AN  IDEAL  RATION  OF  LIQUID  FOOD. 


M  MKUIAL. 

Amount. 

Proteid, 
grams. 

Fat, 
grams. 

Carbo- 
hydrates, 
grains. 

Calories. 

Beef  broth  or  coiiHommt''  . 
To  which  has  been  added 
one   large    egg,    minus 
Bhell     

1  pint 

2oz. 
1  quart 
ipint 
1  quart 
3  oz.  (dry) 

4  oz.  (dry) 

20.5 
7.1 

0.5 
6.8 



88.70 

91.67 
410.00 
77.90 
651.00 
304.11 

420.25 

100. 
12.5 
44.0 
67.2 

100.0 

6.5 
340 
6.3 

2.5 

Whole  milk    
Kice  or  arrowroot   .... 
Grape  sugar,  or 
Some  one  of  the  prepared 
foods  (dry)    

36.0 
0.3 

Total 

2.5  quarts 
to 
3.0  quarts,  s 

76.9 
ccording  t 

43.6 
3  how  the  i 

323.7 
ice  is  givei 

2,043.63 
i. 

A  WORK  RATION  FOR  A  PROFESSIONAL  OR  LITERARY  MAN. 


Ounces. 

Proteid, 
grams. 

Fat, 
grams. 

Carbo- 
hydrates, 
grams. 

Calories. 

Bread 

16 

32 

3 

Meat     .              

16 

50 

30 

Butter  

1 

25 

230  0 

4 

110 

Milk 

g 

18 

18 

Oysters       

4 

7 

•j 

07    Q 

4 

4 

3 

Potatoes  

6 

3 

38 

168  1 

Eggs     .                                  . 

3 

10 

9 

Oatmeal  . 

2 

1 

0*5 

4 

25  1 

Cream  

j 

1  5 

6  5 

1 

Fruit 

3 

0  5 

Additional  liquid,  tea,  coffee, 
or  water  

30 

Total    ... 

127  0 

96  0 

114 


THE    RUMFORD    KITCHEN    LEAFLETS. 

No.  15. 


SOME   SUGGESTIONS  ABOUT  NOURISHMENT  IN  ACUTE 
DISEASE. 

BY  FRANCIS  H.  WILLIAMS. 

Abstract  of  a  paper  read  before  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society,  Juue  10,  1891. 
Revised  by  the  author  for  the  Rumford  Kitchen. 

TIIEKE  are  few  questions  in  the  treatment  of  disease  which  have 
to  be  decided  so  often  during  the  daily  routine  of  practice  as  those 
which  concern  the  proper  support  and  nourishment  of  the  patient ; 
and,  further,  there  are  not  many  things  connected  with  the  care 
of  patients  which  are  so  difficult. 

It  is  not  easy  to  find  a  person  competent  to  prepare  suitable 
food ;  it  is,  therefore,  the  more  incumbent  upon  the  physician  to 
be  able  to  give  proper  directions  as  to  its  preparation. 

The  chief  thing  is  to  take  pains,  and  those  who  can  do  this  are 
rare  people,  whether  physicians,  relatives,  or  nurses.  This  is  why 
less  is  accomplished  than  there  should  be  in  the  support  of  the 
sick,.  If  we  wish  to  succeed  in  avoiding  nausea,  vomiting,  and 
loss  of  strength  and  even  loss  of  life,  we  must  learn  to  offer 
nourishment  to  our  patients  in  a  suitable  form. 

Let  me  recall  to  your  minds  a  few  of  the  principles  to  be  kept 
in  view  in  feeding  patients  acutely  ill. 

Foods  may  be  classified  as  follows  : 

1.  Water.  4.     Sugars  (fruits). 

2.  Salts.  5.     Starches. 

3.  Fats.  6.     Albuminoids. 

COPYRIGHT,  18U3,  I;Y  ELLEN  H.  KICHAKDS. 

115 


Tlic  classes  of  foods  known  MS  starches  Mini  albuminoids  arc  the 
ones  which  require  the  most  care  to  oiler  to  a  patient  in  a  proper 
form. 

HW/f-r  is  of  prime  importance.  Consider  for  a  moment  the 
composition  of  the  body  of  a  man  weighing  154  pounds.  He  is 
i"s  pounds,  or  about  two-thirds,  water. 

It  does  not  follow  from  this  that  we  need  give  every  patient 
several  pints  of  water  a  day  ;  by  no  means,  but  it  is  fair  to  infer 
that  water,  of  a  suitable  temperature,  should  not  be  denied  the 
sick,  and  that  patients  too  young,  too  delirious,  or  too  ill  to  ask, 
should  not  be  neglected  in  this  regard.  The  physician  should 
see  to  it  that  water  is  offered  the  thirsty  economy  in  all  cases, 
nature  demanding  it  though  the  patient  makes  no  request.  The 
amount  depends  on  the  character  of  the  diet  and  the  disease. 

Salts  are  present  in  small  proportion  in  most  foods,  and  are 
essential  constituents  of  our  diet. 

Fats  as  a  rule  are  not  tolerated  by  patients  acutely  ill,  and  their 
use  should  be  limited  to  such  forms  as  are  finely  divided,  as  in 
milk  or  yolk  of  egg  (and  even  in  milk  it  may  be  necessary  to 
reduce  the  amount  of  fat  by  skimming  oft' the  cream). 

Common  sugar  must  be  changed  into  grape  sugar  before 
it  is  assimilated. 

Grape  sugar  and  maltose  are  very  soluble  and  easily  absorbed, 
and  for  this  reason  seem  a  very  desirable  form  in  which  to  give 
nourishment. 

Fruits  are  refreshing  and  valuable  to  give  variety  to  the  diet 
and  to  contribute  water,  which  they  contain  in  large  proportion. 
Most  fruits  contain  85  to  90  odd  per  cent,  of  water,  some  sugar,  and 
the  citrates,  malates,  and  tartrates  of  potassium.  Other  fruits, 
such  as  grapes  and  bananas,  contain  sugar  in  considerable  pro- 
portion, to  15  per  cent.,  and  their  value  as  foods  is  not  to  be 
despised ;  bananas  contain  starch  also. 

Among  dried  fruits,  dates  and  figs  contain  60  per  cent,  of  sugar 
and  6  per  cent,  of  albuminoids. 

116 


,  The  value  of  certain  fruits  for  persons  who  are  predisposed  to 
uric  acid,  gravel,  and  concretions  in  the  bladder  I  shall  not  discuss 
here,  though  it  is  well  worthy  of  attention. 

Though  we  take  foods  into  the  stomach  in  the  solid  form,  it  is 
necessary  that  they  be  made  soluble  before  they  can  be  assim- 
ilated. The  classes  of  foods  which  we  have  thus  far  considered 
are  readily  absorbed  ;  namely,  water,  salts,  fats,  and  sugars ;  they 
are  all  liquid  or  readily  soluble  substances.  In  the  remaining 
classes,  starches  and  albuminoids,  we  have  foods  with  which 
there  are  several  steps  to  be  gone  through  before  they  can  be 
taken  up  by  the  system. 

With  all  starchy  foods,  like  grains,  potatoes,  and  rice,  it  is. 
necessary  to  break  the  starch  granules  by  heating  or  to  change 
them  by  fermentation,  and  before  the  starch  can  be  absorbed  it 
must  be  converted  into  a  soluble  substance,  such  as  dextrine,  which 
is  the  same  in  composition  as  starch,  or  into  starch  sugar  or 
maltose.  Starches,  therefore,  are  not  absorbed  as  such,  but  must 
first  be  rendered  soluble. 

Uncooked  starches  vary  very  much  in  the  rapidity  with  which 
they  may  be  converted  into  sugar  by  the  action  of  the  saliva. 
After  thorough  cooking,  all  starches  require  nearly  the  same 
time.  It  is,  therefore,  important  to  have  starchy  food  well 
cooked  before  it  is  given  to  patients. 

As  regards  albuminoids.  Wholly  without  albuminoids,  unless 
the  disease  is  of  short  duration,  the  patient  cannot  exist.  Since 
they  are  imperatively  needed,  they  should  -not  be  omitted  from 
the  diet,  even  where  digestion  fails  almost  completely. 

Albuminoids  are  complex  in  composition  and  decompose 
readily,  and  in  their  preparation  more  care  is  required  than  with 
any  other  kind  of  food.  To  avoid  decomposition,  they  should 
always  be  fresh  ;  and  to  prevent  losing  the  albuminoids  by  coagu- 
lation, they  should  not  be  heated  to  too  high  a  point. 

To  prepare  meat  foods  properly,  two  things  must  be  borne  in 
mind  :  1st.  The  albuminoids  of  meat  coagulate  when  heated  to 
boiling.  2d.  To  obtain  a  good  flavor,  the  meat  must  be  sub- 

117 


jected  to  a  temperature  much -above  the  coagulating  point  of  al- 
bumen. It  is,  therefore,  necessary  to  resort  to  t\vo  procedures, 
one  which  has  for  its  object  to  extract  the  flavor,  the  other  to  ex- 
tract the  albuminoids  without  coagulating  them. 

If  we  treat  meat  with  boiling  water,  we  get  beef -tea,  which 
contains  only  a  small  percentage  of  solids  and  almost  no  albu- 
minoids. This  applies  to  all  clear  boiled  beef-tea.  This  liquid  is 
of  service  in  two  ways :  its  taste  and  odor  are  agreeable,  and 
together  with  the  heat  of 'the  hot  water,  which  acts  as  a  stimu- 
lant, it  makes  a  valuable  article  for  use  in  the  sick-room,  —  not  as 
a  food,  but  as  a  flavoring. 

Some  of  the  extracts  of  meat  made  with  hot  water  may  be  used 
instead  of  ordinary  beef-tea,  thus  saving  much  time.  Liebig's 
and  other  extracts  of  beef  contain  no  fats  or  albumen  and  a  little 
gelatine.  It  is  desirable  to  use  only  a  small  amount  of  extract, 
say  one-third  of  a  teaspoonful  to  a  teacupful  of  hot  water,  as  too 
much  gives  an  unpleasant  flavor. 

Now  as  regards  the  juices  of  meat  which  contain  albuminoids 
in  solution. 

From  raw  meat  one  cannot  obtain  as  much  juice  as  is  easily 
expressed  from  the  same  amount  of  meat  which  has  been  pre- 
viously heated.  The  reason  is  this:  the  envelope  enclosing  the 
muscular  tissue  is  a  tough  substance,  which  swells  and  dissolves 
when  heated,  yielding  gelatine,  and  thus  aftei\  broiling,  the  liquid 
portions  of  a  steak  flow  out  readily.  A  steak  when  well  broiled 
swells ;  if  it  is  cooked  too  long,  the  albuminoids  coagulate,  it  loses 
moisture,  shrinks,  and  becomes  tough. 

A  slightly  broiled  steak  may  be  cut  into  square  pieces  and  the 
juice  extracted  by  a  press  or  by  squeezing  or  twisting  in  a  piece  of 
cotton  cloth.  ' 

In  administering  beef  juice,  great  care  should  be  exercised  to 
avoid  heating  it  above  136  degrees  F.,  at  which  point  its  albumen, 
coagulates  in  flakes. 

Beef  juice,  though  fourteen  times  as  rich  in  albuminoids  as  beef- 
tea,  is  so  raw  in  flavor  that  it  is  rejected  by  many  palates.  To 

118 


overcome  this  objection,  it  is  only  necessary  to  add  a  proper 
quantity  of  any  solid  extract  of  beef  o£  good  flavor  to  make  it 
delicious,  —  about  the  size  of  an  almond  to  an  ounce  of  beef  juice. 
Thus  by  a  union  of  two  bodies,  one  rich  in  albuminoids  and  the 
other  rich  in  flavor,  we  get  something  that  is  superior  to  either. 

Beef  juice  is  an  excellent  article  of  diet  where  solid  food  cannot 
be  given.  A  pound  of  meat  yields  about  four  ounces  of  juice  ;  it 
therefore  costs  about  five  cents  an  ounce.  It  is  somewhat 
troublesome  to  prepare,  and  should  not  be  kept  long. 

Soluble  albumen,  such  as  is  contained  in  expressed  meat  juice, 
is  absorbed  in  the  rectum  to  nearly  the  same  extent  as.  complete 
peptones.  Albuminoids  in  solution  are  not  precipitated  in  the 
stomach  and  afterwards  dissolved,  except  in  the  instance  of  casein 
of  milk,  which,  as  already  said,  is  first  coagulated  and  then 
dissolved. 

Being  accustomed  to  prescribe  meat  juice,  I  was  much  pleased 
to  find  on  sale  a  preparation  of  it  manufactured  by  a  well-known 
firm.  I  hoped  in  this  to  realize  all  the  advantages  of  beef  juice, 
without  its  inconveniences.  An  analysis  of  this  preparation  which 
was  made  for  me  was  disappointing,  as  it  was  found  to  contain 
only  one-third  of  one  per  cent,  of  albuminoids,  compared  with 
7  per  cent,  in  .beef  juice;  it  had  also  more  salt  than  is  desir- 
able, —  12i  per  cent.  This  is  mentioned  to  illustrate  the  advan- 
tage of  using  foods  which  are  prepared  at  home,  in  preference 
to  those  made  by  manufacturers,  of  which  the  composition  must 
be  taken  on  trust.  This  preparation  costs  thirty-five  cents  per 
ounce,  though  it  is  only  one-twentieth  as  rich  in  albuminoids  as 
beef  juice  costing  about  five  cents. 

If  one  cannot  conveniently  get  albuminoids  froni%meat,  a  very 
nutritious  broth  may  be  made  by  means  of  hot  water  into  which 
an  egg  has  been  stirred.  To  do  this  we  may  heat  three  ounces  of 
water  to  not  above  149  degrees  F.,  and  stir  into  it  a  raw  egg.  The 
liquid  is  milky  if  we  use  the  yolk ;  clear  if  only  the  white  is  used. 
It  has  little  taste,  which  is  an  advantage  with  many  patients,  or  it 
may  be  flavored  with  beef  extract. 

119 


Liquid  at  a  temperature  of  149  degrees  is  apt  to  burn  the  tongue. 
140  degrees  F.  is  as  hot  /is  one  can  drink  a  liquid,  and  122  degrees 
F.  is  a  very  comfortable  temperature  for  a  hot  drink. 

Wluth  these  experiments  were  begun,  it  was  feared  that  a 
temperature  sufficient  to  coagulate  albumen  might  be  so  low  as 
to  be  lukewarm  ;  but  a  few  tests  showed  that  any  temperature 
which  can  be  borne  in  the  mouth  will  not  coagulate  albumen 
(though  these  two  temperatures  differ  by  only  a  few  degrees). 

It  is  interesting  to  compare  'the  composition  of  four  liquids 
containing  albuminoid  constituents  : 


ti'a,        Beef  juice,       Raw  egg  with  3§  water,      Milk, 
about  i%.         about  7%.  about  5%  alb.  4%  alb. 

6%  fats.  4%  fats. 

4%  sugar. 

In  all  of  these  we  get  a  good  proportion  of  salts. 

It  may  happen  that  the  digestive  organs  cannot  tolerate  eggs, 
or  raw  milk.  But  by  means  of  powders  which  contain  pancreatic 
ferments  —  such  as  Fail-child's  peptonizing  powders  —  milk  may 
have  its  albumen  converted  into  diffusible  albuminoids  or  pep- 
tones. In  the  ordinary  process  of  peptonizing  milk,  both  of 
these  bodies  are  formed,  but  the  proportion  of  peptones  is  small. 

Meat  albuminoids  are  converted  by  the  stomach  into  bodies  which 
are  soluble  or  diffusible,  and  these  substances  when  artificially 
produced  have  been  regarded  as  calculated  to  render  great  ser- 
vice in  invalid  feeding. 

It  is  known  that  an  increased  secretion  of  urea  appears  after 
the  administration  of  peptones,  just  as  it  does  after  the  ingestion 
of  unaltered  albumen,  and  that  the  chemical  composition  of 
peptones  differs  little  from  that  of  ordinary  albuminous  bodies. 
They  have  the  manifest  advantage  of  being  easily  and  immedi- 
ately absorbed.  Peptones,  so  far  as  we  yet  know,  may  be  used 
during  short  periods  of  extreme  exhaustion,  when  perhaps  few 
other  albuminoids  could  be  assimilated. 

Many  preparations  have  been  offered  for  sale  which  purport  to 

120 


be  peptones,  but  which  really  contain  only  a  small  amount  of 
them.  Many  such  preparations  are  soluble  in  water,  but  have  a 
very  disagreeable  odor  and  unpleasant  taste. 

So  much  in  outline  for  the  various  classes  of  foods.  Let  me  now 
direct  your  attention  to  a  few  suggestive  points  about  the  feeding 
of  patients. 

Since  acute  disease  is  accompanied  by  fever,  we  must  consider 
the  effect  of  feeding  in  cases  where  the  temperature  is  febrile  in 
character;  also,  the  amount  of  food,  its  quality  and  quantity,  to- 
gether with  other  conditions  affecting  its  absorption. 

In  acute  disease  accompanied  by  fever,  what  are  the  conditions? 
The  body  loses  weight,  urea  especially  is  increased,  and  carbonic 
acid  and  water  are  excreted  in  larger  amount  than  in  health.  All 
of  this  loss  is  not  dangerous  if  allowed  to  go  on  for  a  few  days 
only,  and  if  the  amount  does  not  exceed  certain  limits. 

But  to  replace  these  losses,  we  are  at  a  disadvantage  as  regards 
the  ability  of  the  system  to  assimilate  food.  In  fevers,  the  appe- 
tite is  small,  or  may  be  completely  lost.  The  saliva,  the  gastric 
juice,  the  pancreatic  fluid,  the  bile,  are  less  efficient  in  action  or 
are  diminished  in  amount  during  high  temperature.  The  stomach 
is  very  sensitive,  in  part  perhaps  through  sympathy  with  the  in- 
creased sensitiveness  of  the  nervous  system  as  a  whole. 

If  there  is  much  hypercesthesia  of  the  digestive  tract,  as  in 
typhoid,  in  peritonitis,  in  dysentery  or  gastro-enteritis,  one  must 
be  careful  not  to  give  too  much  food,  and  it  should  be  in  liquid 
form,  and  partly  predigested. 

It  is  not,  however,  the  administration  of  food,  but  the  adminis- 
tration of  unsuitable  food  that  we  have  to  fear,  and  also  the  giving 
of  nourishment  in  quantities  and  at  times  unsuitedto  the  digestive 
powers  of  the  patient. 

One  should  not  give  the  patient  what  he  cannot  digest,  nor 
should  we 'give  him  less  than  he  can  assimilate.  The  attendant 
must  have  a  constant  watch  over  the  condition  of  the  patient's 
powers  of  digestion,  and  carefully  adapt  his  food  to  his  capabili- 
ties, especially  during  convalescence. 

121 


Our  attention  should  be  devoted  not  only  to  what  is  put  into  the 
alimentary  canal,  hut  also  to  what  goes  out.  For  example,  if 
•  iinN  of  undigested  milk  are  found  in  the  stools  of  a  typhoid 
patient,  the  <|u:mtity  of  milk  should  be  diminished, 'or  it  should  be 
diluted. 

K\  ery  careful  observer  of  the  sick  will  agree  that  many  patients 
are  starved  in  the  midst  of  plenty,  simply  from  the  want  of 
attention  to  the  ways  which  alone  make  it  possible  for  them  to 
take  food. 

For  example,  if  the  patient  has  a  fever  with  remissions  or  inter- 
missions, it  is  of  the  first  importance  to  remember  that  the  ability 
to  digest  food  at  these  times  is  greater,  and  the  more  nourishing 
portions  of  the  diet  should  be  given  during  the  remissions  and 
intermissions. 

The  physician  should  never  lose  sight  of  the  patients  likes  and 
dislikes;  one  cannot  diet  a  patient  from  a  book,  or  from  the 
chemical  composition  of  foods.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  incum- 
bent upon  the  physician  to  know  how  to  choose  such  a  variety  in 
diet  as  to  include  both  what  is  palatable  and  what  will  afford  a 
proper  amount  of  nourishment. 

It  has  been  one  of  the  aims  of  this  paper  to  show  that  the, 
preparation  of  some  valuable  foods  is  entirely  in  our  own  hands-, 
and  that  we  need  not  be  dependent  upon  manufactured  prepara- 
tions, of  whose  composition  we  are  often  ignorant ;  and  further  to 
emphasize  many  details  concerning  the  nourishment  of  patients, 
which,  though  well  known  and  oftenrepeated,  are  also  too  often 
overlooked. 

Among  other  authors,  I  am  indebted  to  Munk  &  Uffelman,  to 
Hungers  Physiological  Chemistry,  and  to  the  recent  .books  on 
Food  by  Church  and  by  Yeo,  and  especially  to  Mrs.  Richards,  in- 
structor in  Sanitary  Chemistry  in  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of 
Technology,  who  kindly,  made  the  analyses  of  beef  juice. 

122 


THE    RUMFORD    KITCHEN   LEAFLETS. 

No.  16. 


GOOD   FOOD   FOR  LITTLE   MONEY. 

BY  ELLEN  II.  RICHARDS. 

THE  question  is  often  asked,  "  What  shall  I  buy  as  food  for 
my  family  which  will  give  them  the  best  nutrition,  that  is,  the 
best  health?''  Another  question  is  often  added,  "How  much 
must  I  spend  for  this  food  ? " 

It  is  very  easy  to  answer  both  these  questions  theoretically. 
From  careful  investigations  made  in  different  parts  of  this  country 
it  has  been  found  that  anywhere  in  America  within  reach  of 
the  railroads  sufficient  flour,  cereals,  beans,  pork,  or  bacon,  with 
a  modicum  of  vegetables  in  season,  and  fresh  meat  at  least  twice 
a  week,  if  taken  from  the  cuts  less  in  demand,  may  be  had  for 
from -7  to  10  cents  per  person  daily.  With  less  care  and  knowl- 
edge, 12  to  15  cents  will  give  good  and  sufficient  food. 

But  to  answer  the  questions  practically  is  a  different  matter, 
for  the  method  of  cooktng  these  staple  articles,  and,  more,  the 
methods  of  combining  and  flavoring  them,  are  of  more  impor- 
tance than-either  kind  or  cost.  We  may  set  these  wholesome  and 
nutritious  dishes  before  our  family,  but  "all  the.  king's  horses 
and  all  the  king's  men  "  cannot  get  them  down  their  throats  if, 
for  any  reason,  they  have  acquired  a  taste  for  the  more  highly 
flavored,  the  imported,  or  the  hot-house  products.  The  lavish 
display  of  fruits  and  vegetables,  often  out  of  season,  in  our 

123 


markets  and  on  our  restaurant  tables,  is  as  surely  a  temptation  to 
intemperance  in  eating  as  the  array  of  bottles  in  a  liqiior  saloon  is 
a  temptation  to  indulgence  in  drinking. 

A  higher  rule  of  life  than  the  mere  gratification  of  taste,  regard- 
less of  health  and  pocket,  must  prevail  if  either  temptation  is  to  , 
be  resisted.  Therefore  it  is  useless  to  begin  reform  in  the  food 
of  such  as  regard  the  pleasure  of  the  moment  above  the  good 
dimly  seen  in  the  future.  Only  by  appeal  to  the  higher.impulses, 
and  by  an  education  which  shall  form  wise  habits  from  childhood 
up,  can  any  considerable  reform  be  effected. 

(iOod  food  means  to  the  average  person  that,  to  which  he  was 
accustomed  in  his  childhood.  All  else  is  an  acquired  taste.  To 
the  Yankee  returning  from  Europe,  baked  beans  and  brown 
bread  are  as  fully  relished  as  is  the  rye  bread  and  goafs-milk 
cheese  by  the  Swede  returning  to  his  native  land,  or  rice  and  ducks' 
livers  by  the  Chinese.  We  all  consider  that  food  good  which  we 
like  to  eat  —  that  which  looks  attractive  and  which  pleases  our 
palate  for  the  time,  while  we  ignore  in  the  most  ostrich-like  way 
the  consequences  of  such  eating,  as  if  we  had  no  further  concern 
with  food  when  once  it  has  passed  the  palate,  or  as  if  we  con- 
sidered food  as  a  means  of  pleasure  only. 

Not  until  we  believe  with  the  positiveness  of  a  creed  that 
health  is  desirable  above  all  else,  and  that  food  has  more  to  do 
with  health  than  has  any  other  one  thing,  shall  we  be  willing  to 
restrict  ourselves  to  what  is  good  for  us,  believing  also  that  only 
that  is  good  for  us  which  enables  the  human  machine  to  work  to 
its  fullest  capacity  without  friction  or  breakdown. 

The  human  body  lives,  moves,  and  works  and  so  wears  out  and 
needs  repair,  but  it  cannot  be  taken  off  and  sent  to  the  dressmaker 
as  are  our  clothes,  nor  can  it  be  sent  to  the  repair  shop  like  an 
old  locomotive.  It  must  do  its  own  repairing  while  its  activities 
are  still  going  on.  It  is  a  machine,  but  it  is  more  ;  it  is  a  living, 
growing,  working  machine. 

Only  those  who  have  an  ideal  before  them,  and  desire  intensely 
to  accomplish  what  they  cannot  accomplish  unless  this  human 

124 


machine  is  in  perfect  working  order,  will  give  the  necessary  time 
and  thought  to  its  proper  care. 

The  pity  of  it  is  that  so  often  the  realization  of  what  we  want  to 
do  comes  only  after  the  machine  has  been  so  injured  by  careless 
usage  as  to  be  forever  crippled ;  hence,  the  necessity  of  training 
children  from  the  first  to  like  what  is  good  for  them. 

Good  food  for  man  is  such  material  as  can  be  converted  within 
the  body  into  such  compounds  as  the  human  body  can  use,  first, 
for  keeping  itself  warm  enough  to  live ;  second,  for  repair  of 
daily  waste,  and  in  children  for  growth ;  and,  lastly,  for  the  pro- 
duction of  surplus  energy  to  be  used  in  walking,  t!i inking,  sew- 
ing, digging,  and  breathing.  In  other  words,  good  food  for  man 
is  that  which  makes  blood  and  bone,  muscle  and  brain,  and  gives 
power  to  work  and  think  and  play. 

Coal  is  not  good  food  for  man,  although  excellent  for  the  furnace 
and  locomotive.  Saltpetre,  rich  in  the  nitrogen  essential  to  life, 
is  not  food  for  man,  although  grass  and  corn  grow  luxuriantly 
when  enriched  by  it-  Hay  and  fodder  corn  do  not  furnish  man 
the  food  he  needs,  but  cows  thrive  upon  them. 

Starch,  found  in  cereals,  in  rice  and  potatoes,  contains  only 
half  as  much  carbon  as  coal,  and  yet,  when  cooked  and  eaten  in 
any  of  these  forms,  furnishes  man  with  power  just  as  truly  as  coal 
feeds  the  locomotive. 

Man  eats  the  fiesh  of  the  cow  which  fed  on  the  grass  and  corn 
which  grew  by  aid  of  the  saltpetre.  Mineral  substances  from  the 
air,  water,  and  soil  are  food  for  plants;  plants  are  food  for  ani- 
mals; man,  being  an  animal,  finds  his  food  in  certain  parts  of 
plants,  in  fruits,  in  nuts,  and  in  the  flesh  of  other  animals. 

Since  milk  is  the  food  of  all  young  mammals,  its  composition 
may  be  our  guide  as  to  the  right  proportion  of  food  materials.  It 
is  approximately  87  per  cent,  water,  5  per  cent,  sugar,  4  per  cent, 
fat,  3.5  per  cent,  nitrogenous  substances,  .5  per  cent,  mineral 
salts.  That  is,  nearly  three  times  as  much  fat  and  sugar  as  of 
casein  or  nitrogenous  substances.  The  fat  and  sugar  together 
are  nearly  three  times  as  much  as  the  weight  of  the  casein  or 

125 


nitrogenous  snltstaiiees.  As  the  young  animal  grows  older, 
^laivh  in  rice,  Hour,  and  oatmeal  takes  the  place  of  the  sugar  of 
milk;  and  the  gluten  of  wheat,  the  legumen  of  beans,  albumen 
of  eggs,  and  meat,  take  the  place  of  the  casein  or  curd  of  milk. 
An  almost  infinite  variety  of  substances,  products  of  the  plant  and 
animal  world,  is  offered  upon  which  man  can  live. 

We  must  begin,  however,  to  count  the  cost,  since  most  of  us 
\\  i>h  to  spend  money  for  that  which  is  not  meat,  and  are  willing 
lo  take  a  little  pains  and  care  to  get  that  which  we  want  very 
mueh. 

This  is  the  secret  of  the  thrifty  German  housewife,  whose  food 
is  nearly  always  well  proportioned  both  to  the  income  and  to  the 
needs  of  her  family.  For  her  it  goes  without  saying  that  the  boy 
must  have  his  trade  and  money  to  start  in  it ;  the  girl,  her  dowry  ; 
and  the  whole  family  set  great  store  by  music  and  the  little  treats 
on  holidays.  She  therefore  cheerfully  practises  in  her  market- 
ing the  daily  economies  which  alone  make  this  fuller  life  possible, 
and  the  family  is  not  only  far  happier,  but  also  in  better  health 
than  would  be  the  case  if  they  had  been  treated  to  goodies  instead 
of  concerts. 

How  shall  we  economize  and  yet  have  good  food?  It  is  a  false 
notion  that  cheap  food  is  poor  food.  Wheat  and  oats,  barley  and 
corn  grow  in  sunshine,  fanned  and  watered  by  wind  and  rain,  with 
a  little  of  man's  labor  in  sowing  and  reaping;  therefore,  while 
they  furnish  all  the  elements  of  good  food  for  man,  they  cost  little 
money.  Whatever  means  labor  and  time  and  risk,  costs  propor- 
tionally more.  Oats  and  corn  will  keep  indefinitely;  fruit  and 
meat  must  be  eaten  at  once,  and  hence  are  dear  foods  if  they  are 
carried  any  distance  and  kept  any  time.  Wrho  has  not  thrown 
away  three-fourths  of  a  barrel  of  apples  bought  cheaply  and 
mourned  at  the  dearness  of  the  remaining  fourth  ? 

These  chief  reasons  for  the  relative  cost  of  food  materials  cannot 
be  too  strongly  emphasized,  since  it  is  not  the  intrinsic  value  of  the 
substance  used  as  food  for  the  human  body  but  considerations 
quite  outside  which  determine  the  money  cost. 

126 


Strawberries  must  be  picked  berry  by  berry  and  packed  care- 
fully, while  with  the  best  of  care  and  the  quickest  of  trains  a  large 
proportion  of  the  fruit  spoils. 

Bananas  can  be  picked  in  bunches  of  100  pounds,  brought  long 
distances,  and  kept  many  days.  Wheat  flour  is  cheaper  than 
potatoes  because  nearly  all  the  labor  of  raising  and  transferring  it 
is  now  done  on  a  large  scale  by  machinery,  so  that  2.5  cents  a 
pound  is  an  average  price. 

Potatoes  are  |  water  and  are  a  cheap  food  only  when  they  are 
less  than  1  cent  a  pound  about  —  40  cents  a  bushel. 

In  the  case  of  meat,  the  animal  not  only  has  fed  on  the  vege- 
tables, oats,  and  corn  which  man  might  have  eaten,  or  on  grass 
from  land  on  which  food  for  man  might  have  grown,  but  it  has 
also  taken  the  time  of  man  to  feed  and  build  barns  for  shelter. 
(Texas  meat  is  cheaper  because  the  cattle  range  the  plains  uncared 
for.)  Moreover,  only  certain  portions  of  the  animal  are  used  for 
food.  An  ox  weighs  alive  about  1,300  pounds.  About  one-third 
of  this  is  blood,  hide,  horns,  hoofs,  entrails ;  another  third  is 
edible  meat  nearly  free  from  bone ;  while  the  other  third  is 
edible  meat  with  bone  and  tendon.  The  six  or  seven  hundred 
pounds  of  good  edible  meat  must,  therefore,  sell  for  enough  to  pay 
for  the  ox  and  the  labor  of  preparing  the  meat ;  the  loss  by  spoil- 
ing being  offset  by  the  price  the  refuse  will  bring  when  sold  for 
various  purposes. 

There  is  more  nutritive  value  in  eggs  at  fifteen  cents  or  less  per 
pound  than  in  meat  at  even  five  cents  a  pound.  Beef,  too,  must 
be  less  than  five  cents  per  pound  to  compare  in  food  value  with 
flour,  oatmeal,  or  corn  meal,  or  with  beans  or  peas. 

However,  it  is  not  enough  to  set  cornmeal  and  beans,  shin  bone 
or  neck  before  the  family ;  the  cook  must  prepare  these  simple 
viands  so  that  they  will  be  appetizing  as  well  as  wholesome.  If 
one  combination  does  not  suit,  try  another.  For  instance,  many 
families  will  eat  pea  soup  with  relish  when  a  little  tomato  is  added, 
or  oatmeal  cooked  with  baked  apples  or  stewed  prunes.  Corn- 
meal,  rice,  and  hominy  acquire  a  good  flavor  when  they  are  cooked 

127 


iii  meat  broth,  \vitli  a  soup  bone  or  chicken  bones;  beans  and  pens 
ui.iy  In-  cooked  with  a  ham  bone  or  a  little  pork.  The  New  Eng- 
land baked  beans  have  a  little  molasses  added  as  well  as  the  pork. 
A  small  quantity  of  the  flavoring  substances,  while  it  adds  little 
to  the  nourishment,  goes  a  long  way  toward  making  these  good 
foods  of  low  cost  tasty  and  attractive. 

There  seems  to  be  no  other  way  of  preparing  the  cereals  so 
rhcaply  and  appetizingly  as  in  some  form  of  bread,  and  no  other 
food  admits  of  so  many  combinations,  —  bread  and  cheese,  bread 
and  ham,  bread  and  eggs,  bread  and  sausage 

The  art  of  the  cook  consists  in  making  a  little  of  that  which 
costs  much  money  go  a  long  way  in  flavoring  much  really  better 
food  which  otherwise  may  be  rather  tasteless.  The  good  cook 
will  not  allow  her  children  to  answer,  as  one  little  boy  did  when 
asked  what  nutritious  food  was,  "  something  to  eat  what  hain't 
£ot  no  taste  to  it.'1 


128 


GOOD   FOOD   FOR   LITTLE    MONEY. 

Oats,  peas,  beans,  and  barley  grow, 

Wheat  and  corn  and  rice  for  you, 

Meat  that's  cheap,  and  eggs  when  low ; 

Milk  with  cream,  without  it  too; 

Wholesome  cabbage,  and  greens,  a  few 

To  cook  in  the  pot  with  the  simmering  stew; 

And  Erin's  tuber,  in  seasons  good, 

When  the  price  is  low  for  this  starchy  food. 

These  are  things  that  first  we  buy 
When  the  purse  is  low  but  courage  high. 
We  do  our  work  with  muscles  firm, 
And  bide  the  day  till  the  tide  shall  turn, 
But  chops  and  roasts  are  not  for  us, 
Nor  eggs  in  winter;  nor  fruit  the  first 
Of  the  seasons'  gift;  and  small  our  share 
Of  that  which  rewards  the  gardener's  care. 


129 


Tin'  following  tables  may  help  in  the  application  of  the  pre- 
principle: 


Mtruytn. 

Starch. 

Fat. 

Cheese, 

Rice, 

Cheese, 

Beans, 

Wheat, 

Meats, 

Peae, 

Corn, 

Eggs, 

Eggs, 

Oats, 

Milk, 

Meats, 

Barley, 

Corn, 

Milk. 

Rye, 

Oats, 

Beans, 

Wheat, 

Peas, 

Rye, 

Potatoes. 

Barley. 

Table  I. 

FOOD  SUBSTANCES   RICH  IN 


Sugars. 

Molasses, 

Syrups, 

Preserves, 

Fruits. 


Salt*, 

Acids,  flavors. 

Vegetables, 

Fruits, 

Green  Relishes, 

Condiments. 


Table  II. 

FOOD  MATERIALS   IN   RELATION  TO   COST. 


For  5  to  Id  cents  per 
person,  daily,  the  food 
may  be  chosen  from 
Potatoes, 
Rye  Meal, 
Corn  Meal, 
Wheat  Flour, 
Barley, 
Oats, 
Peas, 
Beans, 
Salt  Codfish, 
Halibut  Nape, 
Any  meat  with  little  bone, 

at  5  cents  per  pound, 
Oleomargarine, 
Skimmed  Milk. 


For  Id  to  30  cents  per 
person,  daily,  the  food 
may  be  chosen  from 

Beef  and  Mutton  or  any 
meat  not  over  25  cents 
per  pound, 

Wheat  Bread  (purchased 
at  the  baker's), 

Suet, 

Butter, 

Whole  Milk, 

Cheese, 

Dried  Fruits, 

Cabbage  and  other  vege- 
tables in  their  season, 

Sugar, 

Fish, 

Bacon, 

Some  Fruits  in  their  season. 


For  30  to  100  cents  per 
person,  daily,  the  food 
may  be  chosen  from 

Choice  cuts  of  Beef,  Mut- 
ton, or  other  meats, 

Chickens, 

Green  Vegetables,  Garden 
Stuff,  and  Vegetables  out 
of  season, 

Preserves, 

Confections, 

Cakes, 

Tea, 

Coffee. 


130 


THE  RUMFORD    KITCHEN"  LEAFLETS. 

No.  17. 


THE     STORY 


NEW  ENGLAND  KITCHEN 


PART     II. 


A  STUDY   IN   SOCIAL   ECONOMICS. 


131 


IMJKKATK    TO    PART    I. 


THE  story  of  the  New  England  Kitchen,  which  Mrs.  Abel  has  so 
< -hanningly  told  in  the  following  pages,  is  remarkable  for  two 
things :  the  new  and  valuable  information  which  has  been  ac- 
quired, as  the  result  of  the  daily  work  of  the  Kitchen,  and  the 
short  time  which  has  sufficed  to  put  the  enterprise  on  a  business 
basis. 

It  is  well  to  emphasize  the  causes  of  this  success,  that  the  les- 
sons in  social  science  and  practical  philanthropy  be  not  lost.  A 
large  part  of  the  credit  is  due,  as  the  readers  of  this  report  will 
easily  divine,  to  Mrs.  Abel's  hard  work,  as  well  as  to  her  unusual 
ability,  enthusiasm,  and  ready  tact.  So  fully  has  Mrs.  Abel  been 
identified  with  the  project  from  the  beginning,  that  it  is  not  easy 
to  think  of  its  successful  issue  without  her  aid.  But  ability  and 
enthusiasm  alone  would  not  have  sufficed  to  work  out  the  problem 
undertaken  in  starting  the  New  England  Kitchen,  which  was, 
namely,  an  experiment  to  determine  the  successful  conditions  of 
preparing,  by  scientific  methods,  from  the  cheaper  food  materials, 
nutritious  and  palatable  dishes,  which  should  find  a  ready  demand 
at  paying  prices. 

Mrs.  Abel  would  doubtless  give  as  the  principal  secret  of  her 
success,  that  she  had  everything  necessary  for  the  experiments, 

without  giving  a  thought  to  the  cost.     The  work  of  the  investi- 

132 


gator  is  not  at  its  best  if  he  has  to  worry  about  the  ways  and 
means.  In  the  New  England  Kitchen  the  selection  of  the  appa- 
ratus and  material  and  the  employment  of  labor  have  been 
without  restriction.  Without  this  freedom  to  carry  on  the  experi- 
ments as  seemed  wise  and  prudent,  the  results  detailed  in  the 
accompanying  report  could  not  have  been  attained. 

The  philanthropy  of  the  scheme  rests  in  the  experimental  stage 
of  the  development  of  the  New  England  Kitchen.  Whether  the 
business  can  in  the  future  take  care  of  itself  to  the  profit  of  those 
who  conduct  it  remains  to  be  seen ;  but,  in  any  event,  kitchens  of 
this  kind  cannot  fail  to  be  of  great  advantage  to  multitudes  in 
moderate  circumstances,  who  have  hitherto  been  unable  to  buy 
good,  nutritious,  and  tasteful  cooked  food. 

For  a  cliarity  that  feeds  the  hungry  there  is  no  lack  of  the  bounty 
of  good  people  ;  but  it  is  safe  to  say  that  not  many  could  be  found 
who  would  be  willing  to  give  liberally  and  unrestrictedly  to  carry 
on  a  scientific  experiment  in  the  hope  of  learning  how  the  people 
might  be  better  fed. 

ELLEN    H.    RICHARDS. 

BOSTON,  Oct.  1,  1890. 

133 


EXTRACT    FROM    PART    I. 

REPORT 

TO 

MRS.     QUINCY     A.     SHAW, 

CONCERNING  THE  FUND  USED  IN  TH*1 

NEW    ENGLAND    KITCHEN 

BY  MARY  HINMAN  ABEL, 


JANUARY  1    TO  JULY  1,  1890. 


IT  was  understood  that  this  fund  was  to  be  used  in  making  an 
experiment  never  before,  to  our  knowledge,  attempted  in  this 
country ;  namely,  in  the  cooking  of  our  cheapest  and  most  nu- 
tritious food  materials  by  better  methods  than  are  commonly 
in  use,  and  to  sell  the  same  at  moderate  prices  for  consumption 
at  home. 

It  was  also  understood  that,  if  possible,  an  eating-room  should 
be  opened,  particularly  for  men,  as  a  rival  to  the  saloon. 

Except  for  this  general  outline,  those  who  took  the  fund  in 
charge  were  left  free  to  work  according  to  their  discretion ;  and 
it  was  agreed  that  the  business  of  the  New  England  Kitchen, 
between  January  and  July,  should  be,  first  of  all,  the  collection 
of  facts  as  to  the  actual  condition  of  the  food  supply  of  the 
masses,  in  order  that  more  effective  work  for  its  improvement 
might  be  undertaken  than  was  possible  in  the  present  fragmentary 
state  of  our  knowledge ;  it  being  certain  that  much  time  and 
money  used  for  charitable  objects  are  often  wasted  for  lack  of  a 
sufficient  body  of  facts  as  a  foundation. 

We  must  know  how  people  live,  how  they  cook,  and  what  they 
buy  ready  cooked,  what  peculiar  tastes  and  prejudices  they  have, 
in  order  to  lay  out  any  satisfactory  plan  of  reform. 

134 


PART   II. 

A  STUDY  IN   SOCIAL   ECONOMICS. 
THE  STORY  OF  THE  NEW  ENGLAND  KITCHEN.    (Continued.} 

Report  to  MRS.  QUINCY  A.  SHAW  concerning  the  work  from  July  1,  1890,  to 
May  1,  1893. 

BY  MARY  HINMAN  ABEL. 


THE  first  part  of  the  story,  as  also  the  report  of  the  scientific 
work  on  which  the  Kitchen  was  founded,  ended  with  the  expira- 
tion of  the  six  months  of  trial.  Success  seemed  to  be  in  sight,  but 
it  was  not  yet  assured.  It  was  still  doubtful  if  the  food  would 
prove  acceptable  for  long  periods,  and  if  the  increased  quantities 
could  be  made  with  the  same  characteristic  flavor  and  quality  ;  nor 
did  we  know  how  far  people  would  be  willing  to  accept  new  ideas 
as  to  food,  nor  how  much  trouble  they  would  take  to  supply  them- 
selves with  more  healthful  products.  An  answer  to  these  ques- 
tions must  be  the  first  step  in  deciding  what  should  be  the  future 
of  the  Kitchen. 

At  the  end  of  three  years  from  the  starting  of  the  Kitchen,  sev- 
eral of  these  points  are  settled,  and  it  will  perhaps  be  instructive 
to  state  definitely  just  how  far  the  Kitchen  has  justified  its  founda- 
tion, how  far  and  in  what  directions  it  has  succeeded,  and  in  what 
directions  it  has  failed  to  accomplish  the  work  which  was  hoped 
for  it. 

First,  the  standard  dishes  can  be  made  every  day  alike.  Not 
that  they  always  are,  for  the  Kitchen  is  not  yet  beyond  the  range  of 

136 


"  accidents,"  the  household  word  for  carelessness.  But  it  is  dem- 
onstrated that  the  food  can  be  prepared  with  a  degree  of  uniform- 
ity far  beyond  that  attained  in  any  ordinary  cooking,  and  that 
helpers  can  be  found  who  will  interest  themselves  in  the  success 
of  the  work  and  who  will  take  pride  in  it. 

Second,  the  standard  dishes  continue  to  be  as  popular  as  at  first, 
and  their  cosmopolitan  character  is  demonstrated  in  the  fact  that  for 
three  seasons  a  school  lunch-room  patronized  by  three  hundred 
daily,  has  been  supplied  with  the  same  food  that  is  sold  over  the 
counter  to  the  people  of  Pleasant  street.  Professors  and  students 
alike  take  these  dishes.  Smaller  schools  and  groups  of  working 
men  and  women,  of  various  classes,  to  the  number  of  three  or 
four  hundred  more,  are  also  supplied  from  the  Kitchen. 

The  most  gratifying  testimony,  however,  comes  from  the  regular 
customers,  who  say,  when  offered  a  new  dish,  "  I  never  tasted  that, 
but  everything  you  have  here  is  good  and  I  will  try  this."  This 
feeling  of  confidence  in  the  preparations  is  the  best  proof  that  the 
general  standard  is  kept  up.  It  has  been  characteristic  of  the 
Kitchen  that  friends  once  gained  are  kept. 

The  beef,  broth  of  the  first  month's  trial  is  still  the  staple  article, 
and  is  recognized  now  by  scores  of  physicians.  Invalids  send 
long  distances  for  it,  strangers  and  sojourners  in  hotels  and 
apartment-houses  find  in  it  life  and  strength,  and  if  ready  means 
of  distribution  were  at  hand  and  telephone  connections  arranged, 
the  beef  broth,  together  with  other  broths  and  beef  juice,  would 
make  a  business  by  itself. 

The  evaporated  milk  adopted  in  the  spring  of  1890  is  still  the 
only  milk  used  in  the  Kitchen.  It  is  sold  in  increasing  quantities 
for  the  use  of  children  and  invalids,  and  it  remains  still  as  we  at 
first  announced  it,  the  very  best  milk  obtainable  for  the  price.  In 
not  a  single  case  has  it  been  known  to  disagree  with  invalid  or 
child  to  whom  it  has  been  given. 

A  minor  point,  but  still  of  importance  in  the  smooth  running  of 
the  Kitchen,  is  the  fact  that  the  tradesmen  and  dealers  have  finally 
discovered  that  the  Kitchen  standard  for  raw  material  is  invariably 

136 


a  high  one,  and  they  nave  ceased  to  try  to  foist  inferior  articles 
upon  us.  This  saves  a  great  deal  of  worry. 

A  more  searching  question  is  this :  What  progress  does  the 
Kitchen  make  in  improving  the  diet  of  the  class  that  most  needs 
it,  the  illy  nourished  poor  that  fill  the  tenements  of  large  cities  ? 
To  this  a  more  qualified  answer  must  be  given.  The  poor  of  our 
cities  are  very  largely  of  foreign  birth,  and  each  group  of  people, 
whether  they  be  Irish,  Scandinavian,  North  or  South  German, 
Russian,  or  Italian,  have  brought  with  them  strong  national  tastes. 
They  like  the  dishes  to  which  they  have  been  accustomed,  and 
they  like  no  other.  And  each  group  is  not  large  enough  in  any 
one  locality  to  support  a  Kitchen  of  its  own  kind. 

Through  the  careful  study  of  the  actual  dietaries  of  these  people 
now  being  carried  on  under  the  auspices  of  the  College  Settlement 
Association,  it  is  hoped  that  some  light  may  be  thrown  on  the  best 
way  of  helping  them. 

EDUCATIONAL. 

The  educational  part  of  the  work  is  the  most  difficult  to  gauge. 
It  is  true  of  this  as  of  all  silent  preaching  by  example :  the  direct 
results  are  hard  to  trace  ;  but  they  slowly  make  the  way  ready  for 
changes  that,  when  they  come,  astonish  the  most  sanguine.  We 
know  that  it  is  good  for  people  to  daily  pass  and  sometimes  enter 
a  cleanly,  pleasant  place  where  the  cooking  processes  open  to  their 
inspection  only  serve  to  recommend  the  food,  where  their  wants 
are  cheerfully  met,  and  where,  they  hardly  know  how,  they  get 
hints  for  more  healthy  living.  We  have,  in  fact,  found  a  distinct 
improvement  in  the  cleanliness  of  our  customers.  For  the  first 
six  months  nearly  every  dish  brought  for  food  had  to  be  washed. 
Now  a  dirty  dish  is  rarely  presented,  and  then  generally  with  an 
apology. 

We  have  started  a  sort  of  hot-water  mission,  or  rather  the  peo- 
ple started  it  by  first  asking  for  what  we  should  never  have 
thought  to  offer,  and  now  the  whole  neighborhood  draws  on  our 

137 


supply  of  hot  water,  and  this  means  a  great  deal  for  health  and 
cleanliness,  especially  in  the  summer  months. 

In  November,  1891,  a  sort  of  annex  to  the  Kitchen  was  started 
in  a  newly  fitted  shop  across  the  street. 

The  first  work  done  was  on  bread.  A  Middleby  Oven  was  set 
up  in  one  end,  and  Mr.  Case's  Health  Bread,  made  by  a  rule  to  bo 
found  on  page  84  of  "  The  Science  of  Nutrition,'1  was  turned  out 
as  its  first  product. 

Bread,  rolls,  corn-bread,  and  buns  were  added  from  time  to 
time,  each  one  being  the  result  of  a  series  of  carefully  conducted 
experiments. 

In  January,  1892,  classes  were  formed  under  the  charge  of  Miss 
Daniell,  for  the  study  of  economic  and  sanitary  cooking.  These 
lessons  were  illustrated  by  the  dishes  prepared  in  the  Kitchen. 
During  the  winter,  classes  from  a  medical  school,  some  forty 
students  in  all,  came  for  practice  in  cookery  for  the  sick. 

Miss  Daniell  also  gave  a  course'  of  lectures  to  the  nurses  in 
the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital.  The  work  was  continued 
through  the  winter  of  1892-3,  and  Miss  Daniell  gave  both  courses 
in  New  York,  under  the  auspices  of  the  New  York  Infirmary  for 
Women  and  Children. 

In  the  spring  of  1892  the  proposition  was  made  to  the  Kitchen 
to  furnish  the  model  school-luncheon  that  should  be  satisfactory 
in  both  taste  and  nutritive  value.  The  list  of  foods  cooked  in  the 
Kitchen  was  riot  complete  enough  to  meet  this  requirement,  being 
only  designed  to  furnish  a  main  dish  for  the  family  table.  There- 
fore a  skilled  cook,  willing  to  work  under  directions,  was  employed 
for  a  month  to  experiment  on  dishes  suitable  to  the  purpose.  A 
list  giving  a  continued  variety  for  three  weeks  was  thus  filled  out, 
and  the  luncheon  delivered  at  a  cost  of  fifteen  cents. 

This  we  consider  one  of  the  crowning  successes  of  the  Kitchen. 

Other  propositions  have  been  made  for  the  delivery  of  the 
Kitchen  foods  on  a  large  scale,  showing  that  its  scope  is  only  lim- 
ited by  its  ability  to  fill  these  requirements. 

138 


PARTIAL  FAILURES  AND  THE  LESSONS  TO  BE 
LEARNED  FROM  THEM. 

What  we  have  said  so  far  applies  especially  to  Pleasant  street, 
where  the  first  Kitchen  was  started,  and  where  the  population  is 
mostly  composed  of  intelligent  German  and  Irish  Americans, 
Nova  Scotians,  and  Americans.  A  branch  was  tried  among  the 
negroes  of  the  West  End,  but  it  failed  to  gain  any  foothold. 

The  Kitchen  which  was  opened  in  November,  1890,  at  Salem 
street,  North  End,  is  in  the  midst  of  Russians,  Portuguese,  and 
Italians,  —  a  population  that  greatly  need  the  better  living  the 
Kitchen  could  give ;  a  population  which  does  not  buy  groceries 
largely,  as  evinced  by  the  absence  of  shops ;  a  population  that 
does  buy  ready-cooked  food,  as  shown  by  the  abundance  of  pie- 
stands  and  bake-shops.  The  Kitchen  was  located  opposite  a 
popular  bakery  which  it  did  not  attempt  to  rival,  but  which  it 
was  hoped  would  contribute  customers. 

After  two  and  a  half  years  of  hard  work  in  the  neighborhood, 
we  must  face  the  fact  that  the  sales  do  not  support  the  place. 
Those  who  come,  do  so  regularly,  but  the  number  of  those  who 
are  intelligent  enough  to  appreciate  the  nature  of  the  food  is  too 
few.  The  location  is  not  central  enough  for  delivery  to  a  large 
number  of  schools,  and  the  institutions  upon  whose  support  we 
counted  have  not  responded ;  it  was  hoped,  for  instance,  that  the 
day  nurseries  would  have  been  glad  to  take  the  food.  The  plant, 
therefore,  is  to  be  utilized  for  other  work. 

Another  side  was  studied  in  Olneyville,  the  manufacturing 
suburb  of  Providence,  where  the  factory  hands  are  largely  French 
and  Irish.  So  far  this  is  the  most  incorrigible  of  all  the 
communities.  One  good-natured,  affectionate  Irish  mother,  when 
pressed  to  take  an  Indian  pudding  home  to  her  children,  replied, 
•*  My  boy  says,  '  Oh !  you  can't  make  a  Yankee  of  me  that  way  ! '" 
Here  is  the  difficulty  in  a  nutshell,  and  all  workers  should  take 
note  of  this  national  feeling.  The  same  thing  is  met  writh  in  our 
cooking  in  the  public  schools.  It  would  be  possible,  of  course,  in 

139 


each  locality  to  study  the  different  national  dishes,  and  then, 
following  their  appearance  and  flavor,  to  improve  their  nutrition ; 
but  each  disli  when  perfected  and  approved  would  find  but  a 
limited  number  of  buyers  at  best,  in  no  case  sufficient  to  support  a 
Kitchen  of  each  particular  type.  In  the  mixed  nationalities  and 
varied  tastes  of  the  inhabitants  of  our  cities  is  found  one  great 
obstacle  to  the  success  of  an  institution-  like  the  New  England 
Kitchen.  All  the  people  cannot  be  reached.  It  is  only  possible 
to  settle  upon  certain  dishes  as  nearly  standard  as  may  be,  and 
I  hen  to  bring  them  within  reach  of  as  many  people  as  possible, 
feeling  full  confidence  that  the  number  will  increase. 

Another  thing  learned  has  been  that  we  must  meet  the  people 
half  way ;  when  pork  and  pepper  are  left  out  of  pea  soup  people 
will  not  eat  it.  No  one  thing  has  been  so  severely  criticised  as  the 
use  of  pork  in  some  of  the  dishes ;  but  the  results  have  justified  it. 
It  enters  into  the  food  of  the  common  people  nearly  the  •world 
over.  They  are  accustomed  to  it,  and  the  flavor  it  gives  is  appe- 
tizing. However  the  question  may  stand  for  the  wealthy,  it  is 
doubtful  if  the  poor  man  in  this  country  can  get  on  comfortably 
without  pork. 

All  this  experience  led  to  the  following  instructions  when  the 
Kitchen  in  New  York  was  opened,  and  this  may  be  said  to 
embody  the  plans  at  present: 

REQUIREMENTS  FOR  A  SUCCESSFUL  KITCHEN. 

1.  A  locality  of  wage  earners,  not  of  the  very  poor;   the  very 
poor  are  not  those  reached,  at  least  in  the  beginning.     If  on  a 
thoroughfare,  so  much  the.  better. 

2.  A  neighborhood  of  Germans  or  English,  Catholics  or  Prot- 
estants, not  of  Italians  or  Jews. 

3.  While  in  the  midst  of  wage  earners,  it  should  be  accessible 
to  a  section  of  apartment-houses,  for  this  will  not  only  help  to 
support  it,  but  the  appearance  of  the  well-to-do  at  the  counter 
beside  the  others,  has  an  important  bearing  on  the  whole  problem. 

140 


4.  The  plurc   ifsrll'  must  be  light  and  well  ventilated,  with  a 
northern  exposure,   if   possible,    on   account  of   the  heat  of   the 
summer  sun. 

5.  It  must  be  large  enough  to  permit  most  of  the  operations  to 
be  carried  on  in  sight  of  the  customers.      Cleanliness  and  thor- 
oughness, as  well  as  economy,  should  be   inculcated  rather  by 
means  of  the  eye  than  of  the  ear.    Indirect  teaching  is  often  more 
potent  than  rules  and  maxims. 

6.  Every  part,    cellar   and   all,    must  be   capable   of    being 
perfectly  cleansed.     There  must  be  large  sinks  and  plenty  of  hot 
water  for  the  large   utensils,  plenty  of  water  faucets,  and  large 
and  perfect  drains. 

7.  A  cool  dry  cellar  which  can  be  ventilated  for  the  storing 
of  vegetables  is  desirable,  or  even  necessary  unless  a  great  deal 
of  ice  is  to  be  used. 

8.  The  outfit  should  be  simple,  but  sufficient  in  quantity  and  of 
good  quality;  i.e.,  no  cheap  dish-towels  which  only  half  dry  the 
dishes.      Good  work  is  demanded  of  the  help,  and  good  materials 
should  be  given  to  work  with. 

9.  The  help  in  the  Kitchen  should  be  responsible,  self-respect- 
ing men  and  women  who  are  willing  to  learn  new  ways,  even  if 
they  do  not  see  the  use  of  them,  and  who,  once  taught,  can  be  trusted 
to  carry  out  orders.     If  higher  wages  must  be  paid  to  secure  this, 
it  will  be  found  to  be  made  up  in  economy  of  superintendence. 

10.  The  standard  of  the  Kitchen  products  must  be  maintained. 
If  a  careless  maid  has  used  a  lot  of  poor  fish  in  the  chowder,  the 
whole  must  be  thrown  away.     The  Kitchen  cannot  afford  to  sell 
a  quart  of   an  inferior  article.     It  is  false   to  its   mission  if  it 
practically  says,  "We  have  things  right  sometimes.'1'1    This  stand 
once  taken,  it  will  be  found  that  but  little  is  wasted. 

11.  The  dishes  must  have  a  high  nutritive  value;  they  need 
not  in  all  cases  have  all  the  elements  of  nutrition  in  the  right 
proportion  for  a  daily  ration,  for  they  are  to  be  taken  home  to  eat 
with  other  things ;  but  they  should,  in  all  cases,  approximate  the 
perfect  dietary. 

141 


1-J.  A  "cosmopolitan  flavor11  must  be  obtained;  that  is,  the 
dish  must  please  a  large  number  of  people  in  order  to  be  widely 
salable.  This  ilavor  must  be  obtained  from  the  food  materials 
themselves  as  far  as  possible,  and  whatever  is  added  should  be 
cooked  in  the  slow  process  in  order  that  harshness  or  crudeness 
of  t;iMe  maybe  obviated.  People  like  "  tasty  "  food,  and  well- 
tlavored  food  is  that  which  is  eaten  day  after  day  with  appetite. 

l;>.  Nothing  injurious  must  be  used  in  any  process;  neither 
must  the  prejudices  or  whims  of  a  few  people  be  allowed  to  in- 
terfere with  the  work  of  the  Kitchen. 

14.  Having  the  right  dishes  rightly  prepared,  there  conies  the 
problem  of  serving  them  to  the  greatest  number  with  the  greatest 
benefit,  and  here  the  real  work  of  the  Kitchen  comes  in.     This  is 
to  teach  the  people  to  live  more  wisely,  both  as  to  quality  and  cost ; 
to  accustom  them  to  the  taste  of  good  food,  so  that  they  shall, 
after  a  time,  wish  to  learn  how  to  prepare  it  in  their  own  homes ; 
to  prove  to  them  that  the  cheapest  food  well  cooked  and  properly 
seasoned  is  really    better    than    more    costly    material    poorly 
prepared. 

15.  Above  all,  let  there  be  no  patronizing  of  the  customers.    A 
kindly  interest,  friendly  advice  when  asked,  unobtrusive  teaching 
of  higher  ideals,  should  be  always  in  mind.     Much  can  be  done 
with  the  children  of  the  neighborhood,  and  in  time  classes  may  be 
formed  to  teach  them,  but  not  until  they  are  asked  for. 

Following  these  instructions,  a  Kitchen  was  opened  in  New 
York  in  December,  1891.  New  York  being  a  more  central  place, 
this  Kitchen  has  been  visited  by  great  numbers  of  men  and 
women,  representing  work  in  many  sociological  lines,  and  the 
work  and  methods  of  the  Kitchen  have  led  to  improvements  in  the 
food  of  prisons,  schools,  hospitals,  diet  kitchens,  and  many  other 
institutions.  Sanitarians,  educators,  associated  charity  workers, 
and  others,  have  united  in  admiration  of  our  success  and  in  praise 
of  our  methods.  From  the  naval  officer  who  applied  his  cam- 
bric handkerchief  to  the  inside  of  the  coppers  to  test  their  clean- 
liness to  the  cook  trained  in  her  own  way  to  judge  of  results, 

142 


nothing  but  praise  is  heard  of  this  effort  to  meet  the  food  require- 
ments of  our  people  according  to  the  light  that  science  now 
affords.  Had  testimony  been  wanting  to  prove  to  us  that  the 
New  England  Kitchen  is  unique,  it  would  now  be  supplied. 

To  sum  up  results,  several  things  uncertain  two  years  ago  we 
may  now  consider  proved : 

That  food  cooked  in  large  quantities  can  be  kept  up  to  a  certain 
standard. 

That  the  food  is  liked  by  people  of  quite  different  tastes  and 
liked  day  after  day,  thus  justifying  the  many  experiments  that 
have  been  made  on  its  composition  and  flavor.  This  popularity 
has,  however,  important  limitations,  as  we  have  before  said,  espe- 
cially among  the  poor. 

That  the  educative  value  of  such  a  Kitchen  in  any  neighborhood, 
though  more  difficult  to  prove,  is  vouched  for  by  many  facts  that 
have  come  to  our  knowledge.  When  the  teaching  of  cooking  in 
the  public  schools  is  based  on  these  methods,  we  shall  have  a 
strong  hold  on  the  rising  generation. 

FUTURE   OF   THE   KITCHEN.       CAN   IT  BE   MADE 
SELF-SUPPORTING  ? 

The  question  now  arises,  On  what  basis  can  such  a  Kitchen  be 
carried  on  ?  Can  it  be  made  self-supporting  ? 

The  Pleasant-street  Kitchen  has  been  self-supporting  for  about 
a  year.  That  is,  at  the  end  of  the  first  two  years  the  commercial 
success  began  to  come.  Interest  on  the  plant  is  not  yet  covered, 
but  improvements,  repairs,  etc.,  have  been  met,  and  this  in  spite 
of  the  fact  that  the  problem  of  distribution  has  not  been  solved, 
and  a  portion  of  the  trade  has  been  diverted  to  Salem  street  in  the 
endeavor  to  put  that  branch  on  its  feet.  Greatly  conducive  to  this 
result  have  been  the  large  sales  to  the  lunch-rooms .  before  men- 
tioned. This  demand  has  been  steady  as  well  as  large,  and  the 
cost  of  delivery  being  no  greater  than  for  a  small  quantity,  the 
profits  have  been  considerable. 

143 


It  was  found  licit  not  until  tho  sales  from  the  Kitchen  reached 
$!>00  a  month  could  it  be  said  to  pay  expenses.  At  $1,500  it  is 
now  doing  well,  with  little  more  expense  for  service. 

During  the  whole  history  of  the  Kitchen  the  business  side  has 
not  been  made  prominent.  It  has  been  sought  first  to  ascertain 
whether  the  food  of  the  mass  of  people  could  be  improved  by 
means  of  such  Kitchens.  The  work  has  been  throughout  ex- 
perimental in  character.  But  the  question  is  now  being  asked  of 
us  from  people  in  other  large  cities,  "How  shall  we  start  a 
Kitchen?"  We  are  able  in  reply  to  give  directions  as  to  the  best 
location,  the  proper  fittings  with  cost  of  the  same,  and  to  outline 
the  management  that  according  to  our  experience  will  lead  to  the 
best  results.  But  by  reference  to  these  directions,  it  will  be  seen 
that  it  is  taken  for  granted  that  the  Kitchen  should  be  a  model 
hygienically.  that  it  should  furnish  an  object  lesson  in  cooking, 
and  that  it  should  be  served  by  persons  capable  of  carrying  on  the 
educative  work  where  there  is  opportunity.  The  expenses  hardest 
to  meet  have  always  been  the  rent  and  the  service,  both  of  which 
are  necessarily  large  in  order  to  carry  out  this  present  plan.  A 
business  whose  profits  give  a  thrifty  margin  beyond  its  expenses 
may  be  able  to  carry  a  philanthropic  attachment,  but  the  price 
of  the  Kitchen  foods  was  meant  to  cover  little  more  than  the  cost 
of  production.  The  profits  then  are  inconsiderable,  and  the  num- 
ber of  articles  on  which  the  profit  is  made  is  small  if  compared 
with  any  ordinary  business. 

Whether  a  restaurant  could  be  profitably  run  in  connection  with 
these  Kitchens  remains  yet  undecided,  with  the  evidence  largely 
in  favor. 

Even  before  the  Kitchen  became  as  well  known  and  esteemed 
as  it  now  is,  business  men  saw  a  future  for  the  manufacture  and 
sale  of  the  foods,  and  offers  have  been  made  for  the  recipes, 
methods,  and  "goodwill11  of  the  Kitchen,  but  we  need  no  ex- 
perience to  assure  us  that  if  the  Kitchen  was  started  as  a  money- 
making  enterprise  merely,  the  quality  of  the  food  would  soon 

144 


deteriorate,  nor  do  we  believe  in  separating  the  sale  of  food  from 
the  educative  function  of  the  Kitchen. 

The  Pleasant-street  Kitchen  has  brought  itself  to  the  self-sup- 
porting line  while  paying  large  rent,  and  with  very  few  labor- 
saving  appliances. 

It  would  seem  that  the  time  had  come  for  a  new  departure. 
The  Kitchen  as  an  experiment  should  be  discontinued,  and  on 
the  foundation  of  facts  and  experience  that  it  has  gathered,  there 
should  be  started  a  system  of  Kitchens  operated  with  all  labor- 
saving  appliances.  Even  in  large  cities  one  central  station  would 
be  at  first  sufficient,  from  which  food  could  be  sent  in  large  quan- 
tities to  selling  stations ;  the  cost  of  transportation  being  small 
compared  with  that  required  for  the  duplication  of  steam-boilers 
and  other  appliances.  The  patronage  of  schools  and  other  large 
establishments  should  be  sought,  and  the  attention  of  physicians 
should  be  called  to  the  beef  broth  and  other  foods. 

It  seems  probable  that  a  restaurant  might  add  the  needed  factor 
for  success  to  the  small  Kitchen.  The  Berlin  Volks  Kuche  also 
started  to  supply  cooked  food  to  be  carried  away,  and  it  was  not 
until  the  restaurant  was  added  that  its  real  success  began. 

But  it  has  not  yet  seemed  feasible  for  the  New  England  Kitchen 
to  make  the  experiment  on  such  a  scale  as  would  be  necessary  for 
reliable  conclusions.  It  would  have  required  a  large  outlay  as  to 
plant,  and  such  a  command  of  trained  helpers  as  has  been  at  no 
time  at  our  disposal,  and  moreover  the  complete  list  of  dishes 
necessary  has  only  lately  been  filled  out. 

Here  is  a  large  field.  The  thing  needed  now  is  to  establish  a 
stock  company  with  a  board  of  directors,  scientific  and  medical 
men,  and  have  a  delivery  system  for  the  choice  foods  for  the  sick, 
and  for  the  bread,  having  thus  a  high  standard  always  maintained 
and  a  guarantee  of  the  quality ;  such  an  enterprise  as  that  in 
Copenhagen  for  the  supply  of  pure  milk,  started  by  Mr.  G.  Busck, 
Consular  Report  No.  135,  December,  1891. 


145 


FINANCIAL  BASIS  OF  A  FOREIGN  KITCHEN. 

The  way  in  which  a  "  Volks  Kiiche"  (People's  Kitchen)  in 
Amsterdam  meets  its  rent  may  here  offer  a  suggestion.  The 
friends  of  the  movement  made  a  call  for  a  loan  of  32,000  gulden, 
or  about  $12,800,  at  3£  %.  It  was  taken  mostly  by  people  inter- 
est cil,  though  3k  %  is  not  a  bad  rate  for  Holland.  With  this 
sum  a  dilapidated  house  was  bought  and  refitted,  and  the  apart- 
ments on  the  two  upper  floors  were  immediately  rented  for  a  sum 
nearly  sufficient  to  pay  the  interest  and  repairs. 

In  these  European  soup-kitchens  it  often  happens  that  all 
expenses  except  that  of  superintendence  are  met  at  once.  Service 
costs  about  one-fourth  what  it  does  here.  The  places  chosen  are 
very  poor  and  cheap,  and  the  furniture  of  the  barest  description. 
In  our  country,  people  would  needs  be  very  hungry  to  frequent  so 
unattractive  a  place,  but  in  the  large  European  cities  these  soup- 
kitchens  are  thronged  by  people  who  can  get  there  the  small  list 
of  their  familiar  dishes  better  cooked  than  they  could  cook  them 
in  their  own  homes.  The  public  kitchen  in  Europe  aims  to 
change  no  tastes,  to  teach  no  lessons,  the  food  of  the  people  in 
most  cases  being  as  wisely  chosen  as  it  can  be  for  the  money  they 
have  to  spend. 

The  German  Volks  Kuche  and  the  French  Fourneau  EconoYnique, 
though  furnishing  hints  that  were  very  useful  at  the  starting  of 
the  New  England  Kitchen,  have  as  their  sole  aim  the  furnishing 
of  the  identical  dishes  to  which  the  people  are  accustomed,  at  a 
price  low  enough  for  slender  purses. 

Having  carefully  studied  the  business  side  of  the  question  and 
the  methods  that  will  lead  to  success,  and  having  established  a  list 
of  standard  dishes  sufficient  to  start  such  a  Kitchen,  we  should  like 
to  consider  that  part  of  the  subject  closed,  and  proceed  to  outline 
the  future  of  the  New  England  Kitchen  as  an  observation  and  ex- 
periment station. 


146 


THE  KITCHEN  AS   AN  EXPERIMENT  STATION. 

The  use  of  money  for  experiment  in  pure  science  has  long  been 
considered  defensible,  and  our  laboratories  have  a  firm  place  in 
the  educational  system.  More  and  more  does  the  practical  worker 
turn  to  the  laboratory  expert  for  the  principles  that  must  under- 
lie his  work,  the  dyer  goes  to  the  chemist  for  his  colors  and  his 
mordants,  the  builder  to  the  physicist  to  know  the  strain  his  mate- 
rials will  bear.  It  is  a  newer  claim,  and  one  that  will  not  be  so 
readily  granted,  that  experiment  is  as  much  needed  to  lay  the  foun- 
dations of  a  wise  philanthropy.  Such  statements  as  these  are 
commonly  met  — we  quote  from  a  magazine  article  by  a  well-known 
writer:  "To  be  an  experimental  chemist  one  needs  to  have 
mastered  chemistry,  but  to  be  a  scientific  philanthropist  no  tech- 
nical course  of  study  is  required."  But  what  is  a  scientific  phil- 
anthropist ?  Is  the  type  so  well  known  among  us?  We  have,  it 
is  true,  made  great  advancement  on  the  times  when  the  nobleman 
threw  his  gold  to  hungry  peasants  in  the  streets  ;  but,  on  the  other 
hand,  modern  civilization  brings  ever  graver  questions,  and  we 
can  but  feel  that  the  greatest  wisdom  must  guide  the  hand  that  is 
to  interfere  with  the  pitiless,  but  of  ten  beneficent  law,  that  ordains 
the  survival  of  the  fittest.  To  feed  the  hungry  and  clothe  the 
naked  no  longer  fills  our  duty  to  our  fellow-man  :  it  is  now  no  less 
than  to  extend  indefinitely  the  knowledge  and  means  of  the 
healthy  and  happy  life.  How  shall  a  given  sum  of  money  do  the 
most  good  to  a  community,  is  a  question  that  is  now  often  asked, 
and  only  our  ignorance  can  make  its  answer  seem  easy. 

Engineering  has  been  said  to  be  the  only  real  science,  for  the 
proof  is  sure.  If  the  bridge  breaks,  no  argument  will  convince  us 
that  the  builder  is  a  master.  But  many  other  branches  of  work 
are  approaching  this  same  certainty  of  proof,  and  sociology, 
using,  as  it  may,  the  results  of  all  sciences,  feels  the  spirit  of  the 
time,  and  requires  that  critical  examination  and  proof  from  evi- 
dence which  must  direct  all  wise  effort.  A  scientific  philanthropist 

147 


\vlin  deserved  the  name  would  require  more  training,  both  gen- 
eral and  technical,  than  any  chemist. 

Perhaps  the  greatest  stimulus  that  modern  philanthropy  has  re- 
ceived has  come  from  that  close  study  of  the  poor  and  criminal 
classes  started  by  the  Toynbee  Hall  Movement  in  East  London. 
Two  distinct  lines  of  work  seem  to  characterize  it.  First,  men 
and  women  give  to  their  less  fortunate  fellow- beings  personal  in- 
fluence and  sympathy,  the  only  help  whose  giving  enriches  both 
giver  and  receiver,  and  interferes  with  no  natural  law.  Second, 
a  body  of  fact,  a  mass  of  real  evidence,  is  being  collected  regard- 
ing the  needs  and  habits  of  those  who  are  to  be  helped.  All 
American  followers  of  this  movement  have  worked  more  or  less 
in  the  same  spirit,  and  the  Andoyer  Settlement  in  Boston  avows 
as  its  first  object  the  study  of  existing  conditions. 

It  is  a  part  of  the  New  Philanthropy  to  recognize  that  the  social 
question  is  largely  a  question  of  the  stomach ;  temperance  work- 
ers are  coming  to  feel  that  they  cannot  make  headway  if  they 
ignore  the  importance  of  proper  nutriment  to  the  body,  for  with 
monotonous  food  is  apt  to  go  whiskey  to  whip  up  the  digestion ; 
the  Teetotum  Club  in  New  York,  having  established  a  pleasant 
room  with  games  as  a  rival  to  the  saloon,  knew  that  before  they 
opened  their  doors  they  must  be  ready  to  supply  food  and  drink, 
and  they  turned  to  the  New  England  Kitchen  in  Hudson  street  for 
the  food.  Mission  workers  of  all  kinds  are  coming  to  feel  that 
their  weak  point  is  in  the  commissariat.  Even  with  the  money  in 
hand,  they  are  unable  to  command  such  food  as  ought  to  be  possi- 
ble out  of  the  abundant  raw  material  that  this  country  affords. 
To  all  these,  and  many  more  the  work  of  which  the  New  England 
Kitchen  has  been  the  centre  offers  reliable  and  solid  help,  and 
more  and  more  this  help  is  appreciated. 

The  New  England  Kitchen  took  up  one  definite  and  very  practi- 
cal line  of  work,  —  the  collection  of  facts  as  to  the  food  of  the 
people.  What  were  the  food  materials  used,  and  what  their  nutri- 
tive value  ?  What  were  the  favorite  dishes  ?  Was  the  food  cooked 
at  home  or  bought  ready  cooked  ?  What  relation  does  the  food 

H8 


question  bear  to  the  alcohol  question  ?  What  was  the  food  of  little 
children  whose  parents  worked  and  ate  elsewhere  during  the  day  ? 
What  were  the  causes  of  the  mal-nutrition  observed  in  whole 
classes,  as  among  sewing-women?  The  Kitchen  Counter  has 
been  the  vantage-ground  from  which  these  observations  have  been 
made,  and  they  have  been  the  basis  for  whatever  we  have  accom- 
plished. These  observations  cover  a  wide  field,  but  they  are  not 
exhaustive,  nor  could  they  be  with  the  time  that  has  been  given  to 
them.  Could  this  study  be  continued  with  the  help  of  college 
settlement  workers,  the  associated  charities,  district  nurses,  and 
others,  and  the  results  carefully  sifted  and  recorded,  an  amount 
of  information  would  soon  be  at  hand  which  would  be  of  great 
value  to  the  student  of  this  branch  of  social  science. 

A  beginning  in  this  line  is  being  made  in  three  large  cities :  in 
Hull  House,  Chicago,  where  a  nearly  complete  New  England 
Kitchen  plant  is  being  set  up,  and  where,  under  the  direction  of 
Miss  Addams,  the  question  of  reaching  the  very  poor  will  be 
solved  if  it  is  possible  to  solve  it  in  this  country ;  in  Philadelphia, 
where  two  of  the  workers  in  the  College  Settlement  have  been 
trained  in  the  New  England  Kitchen,  and  are  to  use  this  training 
in  work  among  the  negroes  of  this  section;  and  in  Boston,  where 
the  head  of  the  Settlement  has  also  had  the  training  of  the  New 
England  Kitchen,  and  is  in  deepest  sympathy  with  all  its  aims. 

THE   KITCHEN   AS   AN  EDUCATOR. 

Closely  allied  to  this  would  be  the  work  of  the  Kitchen  as  an 
educator.  As  it  stands,  it  is  meant  to  be  a  silent  teacher  of 
cleanliness,  intelligent  methods,  and  a  uniform  and  good  result  in 
cookery.  This  it  is  hoped  will  slowly  influence  the  cooking  in 
the  homes  by  raising  the  standard  as  to  freshness,  flavor,  and 
nutriment  of  the  food. 

It  would  seem  that  this  is  the  only  way  in  which  such  a  change 
can  be  effected.  People  seem  to  think  that  what  they  eat  does  not 
matter  so  long  as  it  tastes  good,  and  until  it  is  clearly  understood 

149 


that  it  is  worth  the  trouble  to  secure  the  best  food,  people  will  not 
take  the  trouble. 

Hence  it  seems  to  be  shown  that  the  first  work  of  the  Kitchen 
must  be  based  on  hygienic  grounds,  and  here,  indeed,  was  the 
starting-point  of  the  Pleasant-street  Kitchen. 

It  still  takes  at  least  a  month  to  introduce  a  new  dish.  It  re- 
quires a  great  deal  of  persuasion,  and  many  "  tastes,"  and  much 
learned  discussion  of  food  values  to  get  a  new  kind  of  food  tested. 
Strange  names  mean  strange  tastes,  and  it  is  only  the  true  cos- 
mopolitan who  willingly  takes  new  fare.  We  started  with  the 
idea  that  we  must  find  the  favorite  dishes  of  the  neighborhood, 
and  then  cook  them  better.  This  has  been  to  a  certain  extent 
possible,  though,  as  we  have  before  said,  it  was  not  possible  to  add 
to  our  list  national  dishes  for  a  limited  number  of  foreigners.  We 
began  to  ask,  What  are  the  national  dishes  of  Americans?  It 
is  astonishing  how  few  still  partake  of  the  simple  fare  known  as 
New  England.  It  seems  to  be  a  part  of  the  restless  and  hurried 
life  of  this  generation  in  large  cities  to  have  abandoned  the  cheap 
and  simple  foods  that  need  long  cooking  and  a  little  skill  to  make 
them  palatable.  This  reduces  the  fare  to  chops  and  steaks,  and 
tea  with  bread  and  cakes  to  be  picked  up  at  the  bake-shop.  Are 
these  our  national  foods  ?  It  would  almost  seem  so.  Certain  it  is 
that  home  cookery  is  decreasing  in  amount  and  not  improving  in 
quality,  more  and  more  dependence  being  placed  on  the  bake- 
shop  and  restaurant. 

Now  what  is  the  result  ?  The  wage  earner  is  illy  nourished  on 
money  that  is  all-sufficient,  if  rightly  expended,  to  buy  him  proper 
food.  This  is  a  serious  question,  because  here  there  is  the  chance 
of  more  saving  than  in  any  other  item  of  living ;  and  what  can  so 
easily  be  saved  here  can  be  applied  to  better  shelter,  which  is  a 
more  evident,  if  not  more  vital,  need. 

The  studies  which  have  been  made  within  a  few  years  of  the 
food  of  working  communities  in  Europe  show  that  they  have 
been  forced  down  to  a  dietary  which  can  hardly  be  bettered  for 
the  money,  It  is  a  survival  of  the  fittest,  indeed ;  and  in  a  model 

]50 


paper  by  Carl  Yon  Rechenberg  on  the  food  of  the  weavers  of 
Zittau,  science  acknowledges  that  it  can  do  little  more  for  them 
while  they  have  so  little  money  to  spend.  The  cooking  of  the 
staples  is  as  a  rule  better  done  than  with  us,  the  better-class  cook- 
ing is  often  not  so  well  done,  but  the  wage  earners  have  been 
forced  to  learn  the  most  effective  and  economical  ways. 

This  has  been  recently  brought  home  to  us  very  forcibly  in  the, 
comparative  costs  which  we  ^ave  been  collecting  for  some  care- 
fully computed  dietaries.  It  is  found  that  the  amount  and  quality 
of  food  which  can  be  bought  in  America  for  from  ten  to  twelve 
cents  costs  in  Europe  from  eighteen  to  twenty-three  or  nearly 
twice  as  much ;  but  a  study  of  the  statistics  so  carefully  compiled 
by  the  United  States  Labor  Bureau  shows  that  our  wage  earners 
do  not  avail  themselves  of  this  opportunity  of  saving  on  food, 
but  that  they  revel  in  the  unwonted  luxury.  This  applies 
equally  to  the  citizen  of  foreign  birth.  "  Where  in  the  old  coun- 
try do  you  find  a  workman  that  can  have  meat  on  his  table  three 
times  a  day?"  said  one  of  our  German  neighbors.  For  this 
man  American  freedom  and  prosperity  had  a  very  limited 
meaning. 

The  $200  which  a  Lowell  factory  operative  spends  on  food,  out 
of  his  $360  total  income,  is  largely  spent  on  costly  meat,  sugar, 
butter,  and  fine  flour,  instead  of  on  well-chosen  cuts  of  meat,  peas, 
beans,  and  corn  meal.  He  could  have  secured  better  nutrition  for 
$100,  and  have  $100  to  put  into  better  shelter  and  a  dress  for  his 
wife,  who  had  had  none  since  her  marriage  seven  years  before. 

THE    RUMFORD    FOOD    LABORATORY. 

We  have,  then,  three  distinct  kinds  of  work  for  public  kitchens  : 
the  sale  of  foods,  the  gathering  of  facts  regarding  the  food  habits 
of  a  community,  and  the  education  that  may  effect  a  slow  eleva- 
tion of  the  common  standard  for  healthful  and  nourishing  food. 

In  addition  to  this,  and  calling  indeed  for  a  separate  establish- 

151 


incut  and  funds,  is  the  work  which  has  now  reached  such 
dimensions  that  we  may  claim  for  it  the  name  of  the  Rumford 
Food  Laboratory. 

Beginning  with  the  experiments  concerning  which  report  was 
made  in  August,  1890,  to  the  trustees  of  the  Elizabeth  Thompson 
Fund,  others  have  been  added  to  the  list,  notably  bread  and  sick- 
room cookery,  in  all  cases  undertaken  only  in  response  to 
demands  that  could  be  no  longer  ignored.  As  the  food  for  the 
sick  was  our  first  success  pecuniarily,  so  it  was  also  educationally. 
The  demand  came  from  a  training-school  for  nurses  for  lectures 
on  the  principles  of  cooking  for  the  sick,  and  from  a  medical 
school  for  a  practice  class  for  students. 

This  involves  a  most  careful  study  of  the  science  of  nutrition, 
and  only  a  beginning  has  been  made  in  this  line ;  but  enough  has 
been  done  to  rouse  the  interest  of  representative  men  in  the 
medical  profession,  and  the  Kitchen  was  invited  to  give  an 
exhibition  of  its  products  at  a  meeting  of  the  Massachusetts 
Medical  Association.  It  is  through  cooperation  with  the  medical 
profession  that  we  hope  for  wide  application  of  what  has  been 
done  in  cookery  for  the  sick.  We  should  not  appeal  to  them  in 
vain  to  use  the  results  of  our  investigations  in  their  private 
practice  and  in  the  hospitals  under  their  charge. 

This  is  not  the  place  to  give  in  detail  the  plans  for  the  work  of 
a  food  laboratory.  But  we  must  say  a  word  as  to  the  need  among 
all  classes  of  people  that  such  scientific  principles  as  are  now 
known  to  underlie  the  choice  and  preparation  of  food  should 
take  form,  should  be  illustrated  and  brought  to  the  final  test 
in  the  cookery  of  all  kinds  of  foods  into  dishes  savory  as  well 
as  nutritious,  and  whose  amount  and  kind  of  nutrition  shall  be 
known. 

No  one  will  be  more  benefited  by  the  results  of  such  an  experi- 
ment station  than  the  individual  housekeeper,  she  who  is  now 
held  responsible  for  every  failure  in  our  national  cookery. 
Considering  how  much  else  is  expected  of  her  in  our  social  system, 

152 


it  is  surely  not  fair  to  ask  her  to  do  anything  more  than  learn  to 
apply  what  some  one  else,  with  the  necessary  facilities  and 
training,  has  discovered.  She  will  then  be  doing  as  much  as  does 
the  farmer  or  manufacturer. 

And  since  it  has  been  recognized  that  good  food  is  not  a  matter 
of  simple  money,  it  has  been  more  than  surmised  that  the  rich 
may  be  starving  in  the  midst  of  their  plenty,  or  contracting 
diseases  due  wholly  to  food  improper  in  quantity  or  kind ;  and 
there  would  seem  to  be  a  need  for  a  department  of  public  hygiene 
that  should  concern  itself  with  food  alone, 

In  all  these  lines,  even  that  of  a  public  adviser,  the  New  England 
Kitchen  has  been  able  to  meet  the  wants  of  the  people  to  some 
extent.  To  reach  its  ideal,  a  fuller  equipment  is  necessary. 

Let  us  consider  the  requirements  for  such  a  work  : 

First:  The  superintendence  of  trained  scientists,  who  shall  be 
able  to  draw  on  the  stored  knowledge  of  laboratory  investigators 
and  to  direct  original  work  on  new  lines. 

Second :  The  assistance  of  those  who  are  practised  in  the  science 
of  cookery  as  it  is  now  understood,  and  who  have  the  intelligence 
necessary  for  working  out  new  problems. 

Third :  Business  experience  to  take  the  results  thus  gained  and 
bring  them  to  the  use  of  the  general  public. 

Fourth :  The  assistance  of  those  who  have  faith  in  this  means 
of  doing  a  great  good  to  the  public,  and  who  are  willing  to 
endow  it,  or  furnish  sufficient  money  for  its  trial  steps. 

In  conclusion,  the  managers  of  the  New  England  Kitchen  have 
no  apologies  to  make  for  the  fact  that  in  three  years  they  have 
expended  a  considerable  sum  of  money,  and  yet  great  numbers  of 
people  in  New  York  and  Boston  are  badly  nourished,  or  that  waste 
and  want  still  walk  hand  in  hand.  That  a  lever  has  been  planted  in 
the  right  place  is  what  we  claim,  and  more  will  not  be  expected  of 
us  by  ^those  who  know  the  slowness  with  which  the  habits  of 
any  community  change,  or  who  see  that  experimentation  must 
be  as  costly  as  it  is  necessary  for  the  foundation  of  work  that 

153 


will  be  truly  enduring.  We  are  deeply  thankful  that  we  see 
light  on  the  great  problem  of  how  to  utilize  known  scientific  facts 
for  the  nutrition  of  the  people ;  and  here  we  rest  our  cause  with 
the  many  friends  who  have  helped  us  and  believed  in  us,  certain 
that  in  some  way  the  work  will  go  on. 

NOTE.  — In  order  that  the  historical  statement  may  be  complete  it  is  necessary  to 
state  that  the  fund  for  the  strictly  scientific  part  of  the  investigation,  "  On  the  Right 
Application  of  Heat  to  Food  Materials,"  was  supplied  through  Mr.  Edward  Atkin- 
son by  a  grant  from  the  Elizabeth  Thompson  Fund,  and  by  contributions  from  Mr. 
Carnegie  and  Mr.  Phipps. 

For  the  printing  of  the  reports,  as  well  as  for  constant  advice  and  suggestion,  we 
are  indebted  to  Miss  Ellen  F.  Mason  and  Miss  Ida  Mason.  Many  other  friends  have 
been  helpful  in  a  variety  of  ways. 

The  New  York  Kitchen  was  for  several  years  sustained  by  Mr.  Theodore  Have- 
meyer,  under  the  direction  of  Dr.  Thomas  Eglestou. 

BOSTON,  May  1, 1893. 

154 


THE    RUMFORD    KITCHEN    LEAFLETS. 

No.  18. 


PUBLIC  KITCHENS  IN  RELATION  TO  THE   WORKING- 
MAN   AND  THE  HOUSEWIFE. 

BY  MARY  HINMAN  ABEL. 

IN  all  times  of  public  calamity,  such  as  war  and  pestilence,  the 
poor  of  European  cities  have  had  resource  to  the  soup  kitchens 
supported  by  the  state  or  by  private  philanthropy.  These  kitchens 
have,  with  few  exceptions,  been  conducted  with  only  ordinary 
intelligence,  and  have  ceased  to  exist  with  the  temporary  need 
that  called  them  into  being. 

But  there  is  a  class  of  permanent  self-supporting  public  kitchens 
that  claim  our  interest,  because  the  cheaper  foods  are  here  prepared 
according  to  better  knowledge  than  has  yet  reached  the  ordinary 
home. 

The  first  kitchen  of  this  class  was  built  in  1790,  under  Count 
Rumford's  direction,  in  Munich,  Bavaria,  as  a  part  of  the  House 
of  Industry.  Instead  of  furnishing  here  the  ordinary  food  of  the 
country,  he  undertook  to  make  a  soup  that  should  be  as  palatable 
and  nutritious  as  possible  for  a  small  sum  of  money.  He  chose 
dried  peas  and  barley  as  the  basis,  and  studied  with  the  exactness 
of  the  scientist  the  action  upon  them  of  water  at  different  temper- 
atures, and  he  gave  the  nicest  attention  to  the  flavor  and  consist- 
ency of  the  dish,  Stoves  were  constructed  with  great  ingenuity 

155 


for  the  economical  use  of  fuel,  and  as  the  result  of  these  efforts 
1,000  portions  of  soup  in  summer  and  1,200  in  winter  were  daily 
cooked  and  distributed  with  bread  at  a  cost  of  one-third  of  a  farth- 
ing, English  money,  per  portion.  This  soup  became  very  popular, 
and  continued  to  form  the  main  food  of  those  who  labored  in  the 
House  of  Industry.  Eacli  portion  contained,  as  nearly  as  can  now 
be  estimated,  about  19  grams  proteid,  2.5  grams  fat,  86  grams 
carbohydrate.  Count  Rumford's  inventions  and  recipes  were  used 
in  many  later  efforts  to  improve  the  food  of  the  poor,  but  no  real 
advance  on  the  foundation  that  he  laid  seems  to  have  been  made 
until  near  our  own  time. 

The  Volks  Kuche,  of  Berlin,  was  started  in  1866.  Its  original 
fund  of  4,359  thalers  (about  $3,000)  lias  grown  by  profits  and 
gifts  to  95,000  marks  (about  $24,000).  With,  the  exception  that 
no  interest  is  paid  on  this  fund,  nor  on  several  other  funds  that  are 
used  to  pay  pensions  to  employees,  etc.,  these  kitchens  are  self- 
supporting,  and  can  be  patronized  by  the  workingrnen  without 
loss  of  self-respect.  It  should  be  noted,  however,  that  the  super- 
intendence is  also  unpaid.  There  are  in  Berlin  fifteen  kitchens 
of  this  kind,  in  which  2,724,419  portions  were  sold  in  1890,  one- 
sixth  of  which  was  carried  away,  and  the  rest  eaten  in  the  kitchens. 
This  portion  is  sold  for  twenty-five  pfennige  (about  six  cents), 
and  contains  on  the  average,  as  estimated  by  Professor  Voit  in 
1866,  47  grams  of  proteid,  23  grams  of  fat,  and  193  grams  of 
carbohydrate,  or  about  one-third  of  a  day's  ration. 

In  many  other  cities  of  Germany  successful  kitchens  have  been 
established  on  this  model. 

The  French  form  of  the  public  kitchen  is  the  Fourneau  ficono- 
mique,  a  branch  of  the  work  of  the  Societe  Philanthropique.  In 
1891,  3,031,000  portions  were  distributed  from  the  thirty-one 
kitchens  of  Paris,  at  an  average  price  of  ten  centimes ;  but  we 
have  no  means  of  knowing  what  proportion  was  given  away,  nor 
is  an  analysis  of  the  food  furnished. 

Successful  public  kitchens  exist  in  various  cities  of  Italy, 
Russia,  Norway,  and  Sweden,  but  in  many  cases  exact  reports 

156 


of  their  condition  are  not  obtainable.  The  Dampkjfikken,  of 
Christiania,  Norway,  sold,  in  1888,  67,744  portions  at  twenty-eight 
ore  (about  seven  cents)  per  portion,  and  six  per  cent,  dividends 
were  paid  on  the  stock.  No  attempt  seems  to  have  been  made  to 
analyze  the  food. 

A  very  interesting  kitchen  was  opened  in  Amsterdam,  Holland, 
in  1889.  Its  founders  were  in  complete  sympathy  with  the  new 
philanthropy,  and  their  ideal  for  the  kitchen  was  perfect  self- 
support,  even  to  superintendence,  and  that  the  choice  and  prep- 
aration of  the  food  should,  as  nearly  as  possible,  conform  from 
the  first  to  the  scientific  knowledge  of  the  day.  These  promises 
have  so  far  been  kept,  and  its  future  will  be  watched  with  great 
interest.  In  the  year  1891  the  first  kitchen  sold  196,000  portions, 
and  in  September  of  that  year  a  second  kitchen  was  opened,  that 
sold  in  the  first  three  months  70,000  portions.  The  price  of  each 
portion  is  fourteen  cents  (seven  cents  U.S.),  and  it  contains  on 
the  average  40  grams  proteid,  26.7  fats,  and  214.07  carbohydrate. 


THE    NEW    ENGLAND    KITCHEN. 

In  January,  "1890,  the  New  England  Kitchen  was  opened  in 
Boston,  Mass.,  for  the  sale  of  plain  cooked  food  to  those  who 
would  carry  it  to  their  homes,  no  food  being  eaten  on  the  prem- 
ises. In  this  it  differed  from  all  the  foreign  establishments,  and 
also  in  the  fact  that  the  food  was  sold  by  the  quart  or  pound,  in- 
stead of  by  the  too  variable  "  portion." 

A  study  was  also  made  of  the  inevitable  waste  of  raw  material, 
and  of  the  proportion  of  edible  food-stuff  which  is  actually  used  ; 
therefore  the  food  values  which  will  be  found  on  the  menu  of  the 
"  Rum  ford  Kitchen  "  are  a  somewhat  nearer  approximation  to  the 
facts  than  is  usually  the  case. 

At  the  same  time  the  managers  of  the  kitchen,  assisted  by 
special  funds,  were  carrying  on  experiments  in  the  art  of  cookery, 
making  careful  analyses  of  cooked  foods  and  collecting  facts  that 
would  throw  light  on  the  domestic  life  of  the  city  dweller  of 

157 


small  means.  In  this  part  of  the  work  many  advances  have  been 
made  in  new  h'elds,  and  much  has  been  done  in  applying  to  the 
better  nutrition  of  the  people  facts  long  familiar  to  the  world  of 
science. 

A  detailed  statement  of  the  aims  and  methods  of  the  New  Eng- 
land Kitchen  is  given  in  the  preceding  Leaflet,  No.  17,  as  also  its 
success  in  various  lines  up  to  May  1,  1893.  It  remains  to  note 
results  obtained  in  the  six  years  that  have  since  elapsed. 

The  original  establishment  in  Pleasant  street  has  been  removed 
to  more  commodious  quarters  at  485  Tremont  street,  and  here,  at  a 
few  tables  placed  in  a  corner  of  the  kitchen,  a  luncheon  is  served 
of  such  food  as  is  cooked  for  the  day.  In  the  basement  a  bakery 
has  been  started,  with  modern  ovens  and  other  appliances.  The 
most  important  connection  made  by  the  kitchen  in  that  time  has 
been  with  the  public  schools,  in  the  furnishing  of  luncheons  to 
the  High  Schools. 

The  kitchen  has  been  self-supporting  during  this  time,  although 
contributions  were  made  toward  the  large  expense  necessary  in 
fitting  out  485  Tremont  street. 

The  branches  started  on  this  model  in  other  cities  have,  how- 
ever, been  discontinued,  or  have  changed  their  character.  None 
have  reached  self-support  while  holding  to  the  standard.  In  some 
cases  pity  for  the  poor  has  led  to  the  serving  of  larger  portions 
than  prices  justified ;  some  have  yielded  to  the  demand  for  a 
great  variety  of  dishes  without  regard  to  their  wholesomeness  or 
the  cost  of  handling.  Lack  of  business  knowledge  has  also  been 
a  bar  to  success.  The  perishable  nature  of  the  materials  used,  and 
the  losses  because  of  variations  in  demand,  have  proved  a  more 
important  factor  than  was  at  first  imagined. 

But  there  are  difficulties  not  easily  met  even  when  right  ideals 
are  adhered  to  and  business  experience  and  skill  are  at  command. 
These  difficulties  mostly  arise  from  one  cause :  the  extreme  slow- 
ness with  which  the  mass  of  people  change  their  habits  with 
regard  to  food.  In  general,  people  like  only  the  food  to  which 
they  are  accustomed,  and  any  change  in  their  habits  is  brought 

158 


about  by  fashion  and  example  rather  than  by  common  sense. 
The  cosmopolitan  traveller  and  the  fashionable  diner-out  will  taste 
of  a  new  dish  with  readiness,  while  the  factory  worker  or  the 
average  school  girl  cannot  be  brought  to  try  it.  The  person  who 
said,  "1  don't  want  to  eat  what's  good  for  me,  I'd  rather  eat 
what  I'd  rather,"  represents  a  large  class. 

It  would  seem,  then,  that  in  America  the  function  of  public 
kitchens  will  vary  widely  from  that  of  such  institutions  in 
Europe. 

The  restaurants  in  connection  with  them  will  not  be  frequented 
by  the  families  of  workingmen,  and  the  purchase  of  cooked  food 
for  home  consumption  in  such  families  may  not  bd  sufficient  in 
any  given  area  to  support  a  complete  plant.  Local  centres  may 
therefore  prove  too  expensive  to  make  them  available  for  perish- 
able food,  only  bakers'  products  and  canned  goods  being  handled 
without  serious  loss.  Even  were  the  wage  earner  and  the  house- 
keeper fully  alive  to  the  importance  of  wholesome  food,  and  the 
saving  of  time  in  buying  what  is  ready  for  use,  they  cannot  be 
expected  to  walk  miles  to  get  it. 

Certain  conclusions  that  seem  justified  by  our  present  knowledge 
may  be  thus  stated  : 

1.  Extreme  care  and  cleanliness  given  to  the  preparation  of 
food  in  a  public   kitchen  are  not   appreciated   by   the  poor  and 
ignorant. 

2.  The  constituency  of  any  hygienic  food  depot  must  be  sought 
in  the  better  educated  part  of  the  community,  a  constituency  slowly 
but  surely  increasing  with  the  growing  knowledge  of  food  values 
and  the  economy  of  human  force. 

3.  At  the  rate  of  present  progress  the  next  ten  years  will  show 
great  advances  in  popular  appreciation  of  what  is  wholesome  food. 
Much  more  help  is  to  be  expected  from  schools  and  colleges  when 
they  realize  the  importance  to  students  of  all  ages,  of  food  that  will 
best  furnish  energy  for  work  and  growth.     Meanwhile,  the  need 
of  establishments  that  will  keep  to  a  high  standard  as  to  food  and 
its  preparation  is  very  great.    They  cannot  lay  claim  to  "  scientific 

159 


cooking,"  for  in  the  present  state  of  science  there  is  no  such  thing, 
but  they  can  apply  a  few  simple  principles  to  the  cookery  of  the 
cheaper  food  materials  and  that  with  accuracy  and  persistence, 
and  they  can  keep  well  in  the  lead  in  illustrating  what  is  the  best 
thought  of  the  time  as  to  human  nutrition. 


160 


THE    RUMFORD    KITCHEN    LEAFLETS. 

No.  19. 


PUBLIC  KITCHENS  IN  RELATION  TO  SCHOOL  LUNCHES 
AND  RESTAURANTS. 

By  ELLEN  H.  RICHABDS. 

IT  has  become  generally  conceded  that  some  kind  of  luncheon 
for  children  who  remain  in  school  until  one  or  two  o'clock  is  abso- 
lutely necessary  if  the  health  of  the  pupils  is  to  be  maintained.  It 
is  beginning  to  be  recognized  that  many  of  the  complaints  of  over- 
work in  the  schools  are  due  to  under-nutrition,  causing  a  lack  of 
the  force  and  brain  power  which  might  be  reasonably  expected  of 
children  of  the  given  age. 

The  responsibility  of  the  parent  and  the  home  for  the  physical 
condition  of  the  child  is  held  by  many  to  be  absolute  and  final. 
To  such  it  seems  quite  beyond  the  province  of  the  school  to  pro- 
vide domestic  training  for  girls,  or  luncheons  for  the  pupils  gen- 
erally. The  answer  to  this  is  that  in  the  general  ignorance  about 
foods  and  food  values  it  must  be  just  as  legitimate  for  the  school 
to  see  to  it  that  the  children's  bodies  are  in  a  condition  to  study 
the  lessons  given  as  to  attempt  to  dispel  the  ignorance  of  the  pub- 
lic by  teaching  arithmetic  or  Latin. 

Once  the  pupil  is  sent  outside  the  home  to  learn  anything,  the 
precedent  is  established,  and  the  most  essential  points  in  habits, 
in  character,  and  in  information,  must  certainly  come  within  the 
province  of  the  school. 

161 


Let  any  one  watch  the  eating  habits  of  school  children  in  any 
school  in  any  city,  and  he  will  soon  come  to  the  conclusion  that 
there  is  here  a  field  for  effort,  wide  enough  for  the  most  ambitious 
philanthropist. 

The  boxes  carefully  put  up  by  the  anxious  mother  with  what- 
ever the  child  most  desires  or  whatever  the  family  is  in  the  habit 
of  eating,  or  the  lunch  counter  supplied  from  the  bake -shop  with 
sweets  supposed  to  be  attractive  to  the  eye  and  palate  of  children, 
are  anything  but  what  they  should  be. 

It  is  most  distressing  to  watch  growing  children  pay  their  money 
for  that  which  is  not  wholesome  food  —  eclairs,  cream  puffs, 
fried  apple  turnovers,  and  the  many  so-called  confections. 

Of  course  it  is  the  parents' fault  that  the  children  do  not  know 
what  is  best  for  them,  but  shall  the  school  authorities  stand  idly  by 
and  see  their  efforts  at  education  paralyzed  by  the  lack  of  proper 
food,  or  rather  by  the  abundance  of  that  which  is  not  suitable? 

But  how  to  combat  the  evil  is  not  so  easily  determined  as  is  the 
fact  that  it  must  be  met. 

One  city  dismisses  its  high  schools  at  half-past  twelve,  leaving 
the  study  hours  to  be  taken  at  home.  The  blind  public  of  this 
city  raised  strenuous  objections  because  they  pretended  to  believe 
that  it  was  a  scheme  of  the  teachers  to  get  a  half  holiday  for 
themselves  every  day. 

Another  city  engages  a  person  to  cater  for  the  children  under 
the  direction  of  its  teacher  of  domestic  science. 

One  city  has  provided  a  kitchen  and  lunch  room  in  its  new  high 
school  building;  but  in  most  schools,  where  lunch  is  served  at  all, 
a  basement  corner  is  allotted  to  some  outside  person  responsible 
to  no  one —  a  poor  woman,  who  ekes  out  a  living,  or  a  friend  of 
the  politician  of  the  ward,  or  the  janitor,  or  his  wife.  These 
latter  are  usually  the  best  providers,  for  they  have  an  interest  in 
the  pupils  and  aim  to  satisfy  them.  It  is  ignorance  rather  than 
cupidity  on  their  part  that  we  have  to  deplore. 

But  in  all  such  cases  there  is  the  pressure  of  the  demands  of 
the  untaught  pupil  for  the  most  unwholesome  material  —  a  pres- 

162 


sure  which  it  is  impossible  to  withstand  without  a  definite  prin- 
ciple behind  all  the  plan ;  and  to  have  this  principle  there  must 
be  a  certain  amount  of  scientific  knowledge  reinforced  by  prac- 
tical experience.  In  the  present  stage  of  public  education  as  to 
food  values  there  must  be  sought  out,  here  and  there,  those  who 
have  fitted  themselves  to  be  leaders  in  this  direction,  and  under 
their  control  must  be  placed  the  preparation  and  supply  of  food 
which  shall  serve  as  nutritive  material  for  brain  workers. 

Only  such  persons  can  gain  the  confidence  of  the  community 
and  can  win  the  regard  of  the  youthful  and  capricious  mind. 

For  it  is  the  mind  rather  than  the  stomach  which  is  to  be  edu- 
cated in  the  case  of  food.  It  is  nearly  a  parallel  case  to  that  of 
good  taste  in  pictures.  The  crudest  daubs,  the  worst  combina- 
tions of  colors,  the  most  distorted  figures,  are  held  to  be  beautiful 
by  those  who  have  never  known  what  is  good  art.  In  the  same 
way  the  worst  food  in  the  most  unwholesome  combinations  is 
considered  good  by  those  who  have  never  known  any  other ;  for 
human  animals  have  lost  the  animal  instincts  which  preserve 
from  mistakes,  and  the  habits  of  civilized  man  have  become  far 
stronger  than  his  instincts. 

It  needs  the  restraint  of  poverty,  or  of  high  principle,  to  se- 
cure the  use  of  the  best  food  by  the  majority  of  persons,  and 
especially  of  school  children. 

One  of  the  natural  outcomes  of  the  work  of  the  New  England 
Kitchen  was  an  endeavor  to  furnish  the  one-session  schools  of 
Boston,  namely,  the  nine  high  schools,  with  a  luncheon  which 
should  be  wholesome,  inexpensive,  and  sufficiently  attractive. 
Without  precedent  to  work  from,  the  experimental  work  of  intro- 
duction required  certain  funds,  like  any  other  research  work. 
These  were  furnished  by  Mrs.  W.  V.  Kellen,  whose  personal 
sympathy  and  fruitful  suggestions  were  even  more  valuable  in 
the  initial  stages  of  the  venture.  An  account  of  the  work  may 
be  found  in  a  paper  presented  to  the  Association  of  Collegiate 
Alumnae  in  1898,  by  Miss  S.  E.  Wentworth,  the  manager  of  the 
New  England  Kitchen.  It  is  sufficient  here  to  give  in  condensed 

163 


form  certain  conclusions  which  may  serve  as  guides  to  those  who 
are  interested  in  similar  work. 

Wherever  a  public  kitchen  of  established  reputation  exists,  5- 
cent  luncheons  may  be  served  without  loss  to  schools  where 
three  hundred  patrons  are  assured.  In  schools  with  a  smaller 
number  the  expense  of  transportation,  special  service  at  certain 
hours  of  the  day,  added  to  the  cost  of  food,  prevents  the  financial 
success  of  the  plant  at  charges  which  seem  wise  for  the  public 
schools.  Food  can  be  served  at  less  expense,  but  not  that  of  the 
best  quality,  prepared  in  the  most  cleanly  manner,  and  served  in 
an  attractive  form.  The  kitchen  can  make  both  ends  meet  only 
by  taking  the  surplus  from  the  very  large  schools  to  make  up 
the  deficit  in  the  smaller  schools.  The  small  surplus  is  usually 
obtained  from  the  sale  of  so-called  luxuries,  such  as  ice  cream 
and  certain  simple  cakes,  to  those  who  have  money  to  spend  ; 
because  the  kitchen  idea  is  to  keep  the  staple  articles  at  a  price 
barely  enough  to  cover  the  cost  of  material  and  preparation. 
Student  help  and  voluntary  supervision  by  teachers  or  officials  of 
the  school  may  keep  the  expenses  down,  but  in  cases  where  much 
service  is  demanded  —  where  tables  are  used  and  the  variety  is 
larger — an  average  expense  of  10  to  15  cents  per  person  is 
common. 

In  such  schools  where  four  or  five  hundred  students  are  fed,  it  is 
preferable  to  plan  for  a  kitchen  properly  ventilated  and  so  situated 
as  not  to  vitiate  the  air,  for  kitchen  odors  cannot  be  tolerated 
in  a  school  building.  An  excellent  example  may  be  found 
at  the  Lewis  Institute,  Madison  and  Robey  streets,  Chicago, 
111.  In  this  case  the  lunch  room  should  be  under  the  supervision 
of  the  head  of  the  Science  or  Home  Department,  whatever  it  may 
be  called,  and  not  be  let  out  to  a  caterer  or  to  any  one  outside 
the  school  force.  Only  the  best  knowledge  and  the  firmest 
principle  can  deal  successfully  with  such  whimsical  and  irrational 
habits  as  those  in  food,  and  none  of  these  experiments  will  be 
wholly  successful  until  the  masses  are  convinced  that  it  does 
make  a  difference  whether  the  food  is  such  as  will  give  best 

164 


blood  and  muscle  and  brain,  or  such  as  pleases  the  palate  for  the 
moment. 

As  has  been  indicated  in  several  places  in  these  leaflets  the  cost 
of  the  raw  food  material  is  slight  in  comparison  with  the  cost  of 
handling  and  serving  in  attractive  form,  and  that  brings  us  to  con- 
sider the  function  of  the  kitchen  toward  other  lunch  places. 

It  is  an  undoubted  fact  that  the  one  class  of  substances  ready 
to  serve  on  the  instant  to  a  teamster  or  expressman  is  liquor,  that 
nowhere  is  a  bowl  of  hot  soup  or  chocolate  served  as  quickly  or 
as  cheaply.  This  kind  of  quick  luncheon  counter  is  a  great  need 
and  might  be  served  from  a  public  kitchen.  It  would  be  worth 
more  than  temperance  lectures,  but  where  the  question  is  one  of 
catering  to  the  demands  of  the  average  public,  rather  than  of  edu- 
cating the  public  to  demand  better  things,  the  kitchen  idea  must 
wait  until  food  values  and  the  office  of  food  in  the  body  have  been 
more  efficiently  taught. 

The  attempts  to  furnish  restaurants  for  wage  earners  and  for 
students  with  food  of  a  strictly  wholesome  and  nutritious  char- 
acter have  everywhere  resulted  in  the  conviction  that  a  belief  in 
the  importance  of  suitable  food  has  yet  to  be  disseminated.  A 
select  group  of  persons  may  be  gathered  in  any  city  who  do  fully 
appreciate  the  work  done ;  but  the  number  of  patrons  is  not 
large  enough  in  any  section  to  sustain  an  establishment.  Re- 
luctantly the  plans  have  one  after  another  been  given  up,  and 
attention  has  been  more  and  more  concentrated  upon  the  educa- 
tion of  public  sentiment. 


165 


THE    RUMFORD    KITCHEN    LEAFLETS. 

No.  20. 


THE    FOOD  OF    INSTITUTIONS. 

By  ELLEN  H.  RICHARDS. 

IN  cases  where  large  numbers  of  persons  are  fed  from  one 
kitchen,  and  are  obliged  to  take  the  food  provided  or  to  have 
none,  we  have  at  once  our  easiest  and  our  most  difficult  task: 
easiest  in  control  of  materials  used,  of  processes  of  preparation, 
of  quantities  prepared,  and  of  visible  waste ;  most  difficult  in 
satisfying  those  who  are  not  in  normal  condition,  who  have  not 
the  distraction  of  outside  interests,  and  who  for  the  most  part  lack 
the  best  sauce  for  food  —  sufficient  out-door  exercise.  Such  per- 
sons, having  no  choice  in  the  food,  consider  it  a  duty  to  complain, 
no  matter  what  is  set  before  them. 

With  the  knowledge  of  food  gained  in  the  past  twenty-five 
years  it  is  a  comparatively  simple  matter  to  sit  at  one's  desk  and 
make  out  a  good  and  sufficient  menu  covering  the  physiological 
requirements  of  any  given  class  of  people.  A  complication  arises 
when  this  menu  must  be  furnished  for  a  definite  and  limited  sum  ; 
but  the  crucial  test,  and  the  one  which  proves  fatal  to  nearly 
all  attempts  to  put  well-thought-out  theories  into  practice,  is 
the  refusal  of  the  people  to  eat  the  good  things  thus  carefully 
provided  for  them.  Who  has  not  seen  a  dog  refuse  a  dainty 
morsel  from  his  mistress's  hands  and  go  straightway  to  a  neigh- 

166 


boring  garbage-pail  and  ferret  out  some  scrap  which  satisfied  his 
craving  ? 

We  sometimes  forget  that  the  habit  of  eating  civilized  food  is 
as  truly  a  matter  of  education  as  is  the  wearing  of  well-fitting  and 
becoming  clothes  or  the  suitable  furnishing  of  one's  house.  We 
are  apt  to  think  that  our  food  ought  to  be  a  luxury  to  those  in  the 
so-called  lower  classes  or  to  people  poorer  than  ourselves.  This 
is  not  the  case,  as  one  finds  when  one  begins  to  cater  to  the 
inmates  of  an  institution,  school,  or  boarding-house.  People  like 
best  that  to  which  they  are  accustomed.  Novelty  in  food  does  not 
commend  itself  to  those  who  have  had  little  variety  in  their  lives. 

It  is  true  that  the  attitude  of  mind  has  much  to  do  with  the 
food  habit,  and,  if  one  will,  one  can  learn  to  like  almost  anything. 
Therefore,  the  strongest  hope  of  the  provider  for  a  mass  of  per- 
sons lies  in  persuading  them  that  the  prescribed  food  is  very 
good  in  itself,  and  not  merely  good  for  them.  To  this  end  the 
"  pills "  must  be  riot  only  sugar-coated,  they  must  look  like 
candy.  In  these  facts  may  be  found  the  reason  why  food 
reformers  have  hitherto  failed  and  why  most  of  us  reasonable 
"food  cranks"  maybe  worsted  any  day  by  a  really  good  cook 
who  will  give  the  people  what  they  like. 

It  is  not  enough,  therefore,  to  calculate  the  food  value ;  not 
enough  to  select  the  best  receipts ;  not  enough  to  have  the  food 
served  in  a  manner  that  is  attractive  to  us :  The  food  must  have 
a  familiar  look  and  taste,  so  that  the  question  will  not  be  raised 
as  to  whether  it  is  a  new  dish. 

A  study,  therefore,  of  existing  habits  and  customs  is  essential 
to  success  in  catering  to  any  large  body  of  persons,  especially  to 
those  who  have  not  been  accustomed  to  variety.  If  they  could  be 
fed  with  their  eyes  bandaged  it  would  be  easier. 

Hospitals  for  the  sick  and  the  insane  present  more  difficulties 
in  the  variety  demanded  ;  but  in  catering  for  these  unfortunates  an 
element  of  pity  comes  in  which  is  lacking  in  the  case  of  persons 
who  ought  to  know  enough  to  cooperate  with  those  who  are 
striving  to  do  the  best  tiling  for  them. 

167 


Besides  tho  acutely  sick,  who  are  fed  solely  by  the  physician's 
orders,  there  may  be  said  to  be,  in  general,  three  classes  of  per- 
sons to  be  provided  for,  either  in  separate  institutions  or  separately 
in  one  institution,  and  certain  principles  are  applicable  to  each 
class  in  whichever  condition  it  may  be  found  : 

First.  —  Brain-workers  with  more  or  less  exercise  — professors, 
teachers,  doctors,  superintendents  and  students,  convalescents  in 
hospitals.  For  these-  the  diet  should  be  liberal,  varied,  well 
cooked,  and,  especially,  well  flavored.  It  is  of  the  utmost  impor- 
tance that  the  food  should  be  delicately  served  with  all  the 
attractiveness  of  napery  and  china ;  all  the  neatness  possible  as 
well  as  the  utmost  exactness  as  to  suitable  temperature.  Two- 
thirds  of  the  food  served  in  most  colleges  and  hospitals  is  spoiled, 
for  those  whose  mind  influences  so  profoundly  the  digestion,  by 
neglect  of  this  cardinal  principle.  It  may  be  difficult  to  secure 
the  serving  of  a  thousand  persons  with  hot  plates,  but  let  the 
necessity  be  once  recognized  and  means  will  be  found.  The  milk, 
cream,  butter,  and  eggs  should  be  of  the  best.  It  is  not  economy 
to  pinch  in  this  direction. 

Second.  —  Manual  workers  —  house-keepers,  nurses,  janitors, 
cooks,  maids,  etc.  For  those  who  have,  as  in  many  institutions, 
out-door  work  and  work  under  favorable  circumstances,  hearty 
food  of  a  kind  with  which  they  are  familiar  should  be  served 
neatly  and  abundantly,  but  in  fewer  courses.  Soups  and  salads 
are,  for  the  most  part,  unacceptable  dishes.  What  we  would  call 
heavy  food  will  not  harm  these  vigorous  hard  workers.  A  lighter 
diet  should  be  provided  for  those  whose  occupation  confines  them 
indoors,  but  the  same  principle  holds :  the  refinements  of  diet 
are  not  as  much  appreciated  as  is  the  accustomed  flavor  of  a 
favorite  dish.  Even  when  in  the  hospital  ward  the  laborer  who 
has  been  used  to  hearty,  solid  food  —  boiled  beef  and  cabbage  — 
feels  himself  much  abused  if  he  is  given  the  best  of  broth  and  the 
most  delicate  dessert. 

In  general,  made-over  dishes  and  minced  meat  seem  a  very 
poor  sort  of  food  to  many  of  this  class.  Even  the  college  student 

168 


who  has  been  brought  up  on  the  heavy  breakfast  of  steak,  eggs, 
and  griddle  cakes,  looks  upon  a  simple  breakfast  of  fruit,  cereal, 
and  a  smaller  portion  of  meat,  with  bread  and  butter  and  milk, 
as  little  better  than  starvation. 

Third. — Pupils  in  schools  where  expenses  must  be  kept  down, 
patients  in  the  average  hospital  ward,  inmates  of  almshouses, 
and  the  chronic  insane  who  are  supported  at  public  expense, 
as  well  as  the  inmates  of  institutions  of  all  kinds.  For  all  these, 
nutritious  food  must  be  served  at  the  least  possible  cost.  And  in 
this  there  is  the  most  urgent  need  of  reform.  It  is  here  that 
scientific  knowledge  could  accomplish  the  best  results  if  coupled 
with  sound  common  sense  and  some  inventive  genius.  I  have 
seen  plates  of  food  loaded  as  if  for  a  day-laborer  set  before 
querulous  old  women  who  spent  the  day  in  their  rocking-chairs. 
I  have  seen  common,  hearty  food  in  like  abundance  sent  cold  to 
the  bedside  of  a  delicate  girl  recovering  from  a  surgical  opera- 
tion ;  and  I  have  seen  dainty  croquettes  and  thin  sandwiches  set 
before  those  Avho  would  have  preferred  a  thick  slice  of  tough 
meat  with  potato. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  inmates  of  schools  and  colleges  too 
often  lack  the  proper  appetite  for  wholesome  dishes  ;  teachers 
are  often  placed  in  unnatural  conditions  and  become  morbid  and 
difficult  to  please.  The  pupils  often  live  under  unhygienic 
conditions,  although  the  school  should,  of  all  places,  be  placed  in 
the  front  rank  of  improved  dwellings.  They  are  pressed  with 
work  and,  worst  of  all,  bring  from  their  homes  the  tastes  and 
whims  so  indicative  of  undisciplined  persons. 

In  catering  for  institutions  the  greatest  need  to-day  is  for  a 
combination  of  scientific  knowledge  and  practical  experience. 
This  it  is  almost  impossible  to  obtain  because  the  public  has  not 
yet  taken  the  food  question  seriously,  and  because  neither  college 
trustees  nor  hospital  boards  are,  as  yet,  willing  to  pay  a  salary 
which  will  command  the  services  of  a  superintendent  already 
trained  or  induce  a  competent  person  to  complete  a  defective 
training.  The  highest  talent  is  sought  for  the  medical  or  the 

169 


teaching  staff,  and  yet  the  most  important  position  of  all,  the  one 
which  affects  seriously  the  efficiency  of  all  the  rest,  is  filled  in 
a  hap-hazard  way  by  any  one  claiming  to  be  a  cook  or  a  caterer. 

To  even  begin  practical  work  in  any  institution,  certain  stand- 
ards must  be  tested  in  order  to  see  wherein  changes  in  individual 
instances  may  be  advantageously  made.  These  standards  may 
well  begin  with  the  lowest  cost  and  least  variety  consistent  with 
the  maintenance  of  health ;  namely,  that  used  in  prisons,  alms- 
houses,  and  houses  of  correction ;  for,  while  the  food  should  be 
well  cooked  so  that  it  may  be  palatable  and  readily  digested,  it  is 
not  wise  to  make  the  menu  so  attractive  as  to  encourage  the 
hungry  to  commit  petty  crimes  for  the  sake  of  the  good  prison 
fare  ;  for  we  must  remember  that  the  old  disciplinary  diet  of  bread 
and  water  is  no  longer  in  vogue.  The  diet  should  not  be  stim- 
ulating, that  is,  it  should  contain  a  limited  amount  of  meat,  and 
only  such  proportion  of  spices  and  condiments  as  is  absolutely 
necessary  for  the  assimilation  of  the  other  and  staple  ingredients 
of  the  food.  Vegetables  should  play  a  larger  part  than  they 
appear  to  do  in  this  class  of  food.  Standard  No.  1,  costing  for 
500  to  1,000  inmates  from  7  to  10  cents  a  day,  and  for  100  to  500 
from  9  to  11  cents,  offers  a  working  basis  for  this  class.  These 
amounts  have  been  proved  to  be  sufficient,  with  suitable  cooking, 
serving,  and  oversight,  to  prevent  undue  waste.  While  there  are 
institutions  of  the  kind  in  the  country  where  the  expense  is  given 
as  less,  it  is  not  to  be  recommended  that  the  cost  go  below  7  cents. 

For  children  and  youth  in  reformatories  the  food  should 
furnish  material  for  growth  and  development,  and,  since  the 
inmates  of  these  institutions  are  found  there  largely  because 
their  parents  or  they  in  childhood  were  under- nourished,  their 
food  should  be  somewhat  abundant,  although  of  the  plainest  and 
most  substantial  kind.  Standards  Nos.  2  and  3  give  a  working 
basis  for  this  class.  The  cost  of  these  two  standards  should  not 
be  below  8  nor  over  11  cents  for  a  minimum,  nor  below  10  or 
over  13  cents  for  a  maximum. 

For  old  persons  and  inmates  of  charity  hospitals,  a  standard 

170 


closely  approximating  No.  o,  with  less  milk  and  eggs  and  with 
tea,  may  be  used  at  the  same  cost. 

The  diet  of  the  insane  adult  in  public  institutions  approaches 
nearly  that  of  the  student  in  school  where  the  expense  must  be 
kept  low,  and  where  refinements  of  serving  are  not  attempted. 
Standard  No.  4  shows  the  amounts  found  to  be  sufficient  under 
the  rigid  conditions  specified ;  namely,  close  inspection  of  raw 
material,  careful  cooking,  and,  when  a  general  spirit  of  intelli- 
gence and  contentment  pervades  the  institution,  with  confidence  in 
the  management. 

Wherever  this  rigid  economy  exists  the  medical  inspector  must 
be  on  guard  in  order  to  see  that  cases  of  starvation  in  the  midst 
of  general  sufficiency  do  not  occur,  owing  to  personal  idiosyn- 
crasies, especially  among  children  and  students. 

For  officers  of  institutions,  students,  and  convalescent  patients, 
Standard  No.  5  furnishes  a  guide  for  the  staple  articles  to  which 
may  be  added,  for  officers,  as  many  luxuries  as  the  purse  will 
allow  from  market  and  store  to  tempt  the  jaded  appetite  of  those 
who  consider  the  pleasure  of  eating  above  the  pleasure  of  good 
health.  The  officers  rarely  set  a  good  example,  but  it  is  not 
usually  held  to  be  the  superintendent's  duty  to  provide  hygienic 
food  for  them,  but  to  satisfy  them  as  far  as  is  possible  with  the 
means  at  hand. 

The  chief  reason  of  the  great  difficulty  in  satisfying  the  crav- 
ings of  people  of  studious  or  sedentary  habits  is  that  they  have 
not  a  healthy  appetite  for  food  as  a  means  of  nourishment,  as  a 
force  producer,  but  a  sort  of  sentimental  craving  for  stimulant, 
something  which  tastes  good  for  the  moment  or  something  which 
looks  as  if  it  would  taste  good.  A  mental  treatment  must  in  such 
cases  precede  the  administration  of  simple,  wholesome  food. 
Nurses,  students,  and  semi-invalids  who  have  access  to  supplies 
of  dainties,  by  frequent  eating  destroy  the  appetite  for  the  regular 
meals  and  therefore  become  finical  and  difficult  to  please.  In 
this  age,  when  prevention  is  regarded  as  the  highest  application 
of  science,  to  go  on  eating  food  which  hinders  the  full  accom- 

171 


plishment  of  the  work  or  pleasure  of  the  individual  is  a  survival 
of  by-gone  clays. 

The  cost  of  this  general  dietary  ranges  from  '22  to  ;"JO  cents  for 
groups  of  50  to  500  persons ;  27  cents  should  furnish  all  that  is 
necessary,  except  when  the  group  consists  of  only  10  to  50  per- 
sons, and  when  the  demand  for  fruit  and  vegetables  out  of  season 
is  fully  met. 

From  5  to  50  cents  seems  a  wide  range  for  the  same  actual 
weight  of  dry  food  substances  which  may  support  human  life,  and 
illustrates  the  hap-hazard  way  in  which  all  American  customs  as 
to  food  are  allowed  to  become  traditions.  That  the  wider  range 
is  not  necessarily  more  healthful  is  proved  by  the  prevalence  of 
diseases  due  to  digestive  disturbance  and  to  the  fact  that  cases  of 
mal-nutrition  are  met  with  more  frequently  among  the  good- 
livers  than  among  the  more  abstemious. 

The  whole  question  of  food  needs  to  be  approached  in  a  different 
spirit  and  with  a  greater  confidence  in  its  importance.  No  better 
school  of  diet  could  be  found  than  an  intelligently  managed  school 
or  hospital.  In  any  case  the  inmates  should  have  confidence 
that  the  very  best  that  science  can  teach  is  being  done  for 
them,  and  they  should  take  the  food  with  that  faith  and  cheer- 
fulness which  go  a  long  way  toward  making  it  palatable  and 
digestible. 

In  the  hospital  more  help  should  be  provided  in  the  wards  to 
see  that  the  food,  when  well  cooked,  is  properly  presented  to  the 
patient.  The  very  lax  way  in  which,  in  most  places,  the  serving 
is  now  done,  the  coarse  crockery,  the  lack  of  napkins  and  suit- 
able trays  for  those  to  whom  such  things  mean  relish  or  disgust, 
militates  against  good  work  in  the  kitchen.  While  training 
schools  for  nurses  have  accomplished  much  there  is  a  great  gap 
as  yet  in  the  nurses'  knowledge  of  food  which  will  not  be  bridged 
until  physicians  and  trustees  have  come  to  see  the  essential 
importance  of  unity  of  administration  in  the  food  department. 

In  the  school  nothing  can  take  the  place  of  well-assimilated 
food  as  a  producer  of  brain  power.  In  the  hospital  no  medicine 

172 


or  disinfectant  can  rival  nutritions  food  as  a  factor  in  recovery. 
It  is  the  duty  of  those  in  charge  to  provide  such  food  just  as  much 
as  the  other  appliances  usually  found  and  universally  conceded  to 
be  necessary. 

There  is  a  difficulty  in  dealing  with  so  heterogeneous  a  mass 
of  persons  as  those  found  in  any  American  institution,  persons 
of  different  nationalities,  different  habits,  from  childhood  up, 
which  only  education  can  overcome. 

In  closing  I  can  only  reiterate  the  statement  with  which  I 
began  :  The  food  will  not  be  satisfactory  in  either  college  or 
hospital  until  trained  persons  are  employed  and  well  paid  to 
superintend  the  whole  business  of  food  supply,  —  the  buying, 
the  cooking,  and  the  serving,  —  for  the  three  hold  together,  and  a 
fault  in  any  one  may  ruin  the  result. 

In  preparing  this  resume  free  use  has  been  made  of  previous 
articles  by  the  author:  "  Notes  on  Hospital  Dietaries,1'  t(  Journal 
of  Insanity,"  October,  1895  ;  "  Food  as  a  Factor  in  Student  Life,'' 
Chicago  University,  1894 ;  "Hospital  Diet,"  "  American  Kitchen 
Magazine,"  April,  1896;  "Report  on  the  Dietaries  of  the  Nine 
Institutions  of  City  of  Boston,'1  to  the  Institutions  Commission, 
1897. 


173 


PROVISIONAL    STANDARDS. 


STAPLE  ARTICLES  PER  PERSON  DAILY. 

I. 

II. 

III. 

IV. 

V. 

Ounces. 

Ounces. 

Ounces. 

Ounces. 

Ounces. 

Meat  and  fish  

10 

12 

7 

12 

16 

Salt  pork,   lard,  suet,  etc  
Flour  and  rice  

1 
14 

1 
14 

11 

12 

i 
2 

10 

Oatmeal,   cornmeal,   hominy,  bar- 
\Q\  }  etc.              

2 

2 

2 

i  i 

1 

Peas,  beans,  lentils,  and  cheese.. 
Potatoes 

2 
12 

2 

12 

2 
6 

1  2 

12 

1 

12 

Vegetables 

6 

6 

4 

g 

3 

Sugar                           

2 

2 

3 

3 

3 

Dried  fruits  

15 

-3 

1 

Milk  

4 

4 

16 

16 

16 

Oleomargarine  or  butter 

i 

_?._ 

I 

1  ! 

Effffs 

*1 

3 

A2 

2 

¥ 

4 

THESE  MATERIALS  SHOULD  YIELD  IN 

AVAILABLE   FORM  : 

Grams. 

Grams. 

Grums. 

Grams. 

Grams. 

Proteid 

103 

1  11 

93 

110 

130 

Fat 

73 

91 

77 

100 

128 

Carbohydrates 

426 

436 

389 

49  1 

404 

Calories    

2,848 

3,088 

2,692 

3,107 

3  377 

COST,   EXCLUSIVE    OP   TEA,   COFFEE, 
AND   FRESH   FRUITS. 

Cents. 

Cents. 

Cents. 

Cents. 

Cents. 

Minimum                 ... 

7.2 

8.3 

9.0 

11.0 

15.0 

Maximum                .        

9.0 

10.0 

12.0 

20.0 

25.0 

Tea,    coffee,    condiments,     game, 
luxuries  of  any  kind,  which  add 
little  to  the  nutriment 

1.0 

2.0 

2.0 

5  to  10 

5  to  25 

174 


INDEX. 


Absorption,  82. 
Air  as  food,  55. 
Albuminoids,  117,  118,  119,  120. 

Beef  juice,  119. 

Carbohydrates,  76,  80,  83,  84, 102. 
Cellulose,  79. 
Cleanliness,  34,  35. 
Cooking,  office  of,  34,  47,  66,  67, 
128. 
Cost  of  food,  39,  40,  42,  71,  123, 

127,  130,  164,  170,  172,  174. 
Count  Rumford,  12,  13,  19,  25. 

"          quotations  from, 
28  to  32,  104. 

"  work  of,  20,  23, 

155. 
Cream,  86,  87. 

Digestion,  external,  45,  46,  47. 
Disease,  food  in,  109,    110,   113, 
115,  167. 
"        resistance  to,  106. 

Fat,  73,  74,  75,  86,  87,  116. 
"    in  food,  88. 


Food,  cost  of.     See  cost. 

"      good  for  man,  125,  126,  129. 

"      values,  15,  I>2,  56,  88,  100, 

108,  120. 

Funds,  source  of,   133,  134,  154, 
163. 

Glucose,  77. 
Glycogen,  82. 

Institutions,  food  of,  106  to  173. 

Kitchen  as  an  educator,  149. 

"        "    "  experiment  station, 
147. 

The  Rumford,  12-14. 
"  "  exhibit 

of,  12. 

"  "  mottoes, 

16. 

standard 

luncheons 

at,  15. 

Meat,  extracts,  61,  119. 
Mottoes,   Rumford   Kitchen,    16, 
17,  18. 


175 


Nr\\     Kiiijluml     Kitclu-n.    account 

of,  i;u-i:.:;,  i;,7. 

Pleasure  in  euting,  32. 

1'rotcids,  :,s,  ill,  83,  117. 

"         composition  of,  59,  60. 
"         digestion  of,  (53,  04,  Go. 

uses  of,  (JO,  70,  11(5. 

Public  kitchen,  requirements  for, 

140,  141,  142,  153,  150. 

Public  kitchen,    in    Europe,   14(5, 

155,  156,  157. 

Ration.  30,  108-114. 
Royal  Institution,  2<5. 
Kumford.     See  Count. 

School  children,  growth  of,  07. 


School  children,  luncheon  of,  01, 
02,  KU-164. 

Science   of  nutrition,   13,  24,  38, 
41,  44,  152. 
Soups,  Rumford,  22. 
Standard  dietary,  60,  70,  02,  103, 
108,  100-114,  174. 
luncheons,  15,  03-06. 
41         of  health,  105. 
Starch,  70,  81,  84,  117. 
Students,  food  of,  08,  00,  168, 160. 
Sugars,  7G,  78,  80,  81,  116. 

Water,  as  a  heat  regulator,  51. 
"         "     solvent,  50. 
"       quantity  to  be  taken,  53. 
11       uses  of,  54. 


176 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 

AN  INITIAL  FINE  OF  25  CENTS 

WILL   BE   ASSESSED    FOR    FAILURE  TO   RETURN 

THIS    BOOK   ON    THE    DATE   DUE.    THE   PENALTY 

WILL  INCREASE  TO  5p  fiSM«JS|pN  TI 

DAY    AND    TO     4fepO|  OJ4    TfHEi   SEVVUSH     DAY 

OVERDUE. 


IVIHI         *J       IJO^  ?j 

ffi  2 

-^ 

MAY   10  1W5 

$P*"(  .^ti  iftA-t 

fiBUCr  AiJ  it  i 

SENT  ON  ILL 

JAN  1  6  1996 

U.  C.  BERKELEY 

APR  1  1  1998 

r\r5\     !        loou 

MAY  o  «  2000 

LD  21-100m-8,'34 

u.  c 


